


Despair Scenario Number 11038

by Panko



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Cuddling & Snuggling, Despair, Dubious Consent, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Long, M/M, Seriously despair, Sexual Confusion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-02-22 06:51:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2498612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panko/pseuds/Panko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only one Super High School Level Good Luck is selected per year. Yet Naegi Makoto wakes up on his first day of school locked in a room with another new student: an unpredictable boy named Komaeda Nagito, who claims to have the exact same talent. Who imprisoned them, and why? And why does Naegi feel like it’s his responsibility to keep them both sane while they try to survive and escape?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Final Dead Room

**Author's Note:**

> Dokidoki Content Note/Warning Panic:  
> All warnings that might apply to the games themselves apply to this fic.  
> The vast majority of the story will be Komaeda/Naegi and focuses on their characters.  
> More detailed, spoilery warnings for the story as a whole are located at the end of the Chapter 1, so if you want to see them, head down there, and if you don't, watch out for them.
> 
> All comments and constructive criticism are welcome!

Participants (2):

Naegi Makoto (&#12508;&#12463;&#12399;&#12461;&#12511;&#12434;)

Talent: Super High School Level Good Luck (&#8230;)

Sex: Male

Age: 15

Height: 160 cm

Weight: 52 kg

Blood Type: &#12461;&#12511;&#12398;&#20013;&#12395;&#30496;&#12427;&#24076;&#26395; &#12434;

Komaeda Nagito (55:207)

Talent: Super High School Level Good Luck

Sex: Male

Age: &#24515;&#12363;&#12425;&#24859;&#12375;&#12390;&#12356;&#12427;&#12392;&#12290;

Height: 180 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Blood Type: O

&#30456;&#24540;&#12375;&#12356;&#33457;&#28779;&#12384;&#12424;

&#32066;&#12431;&#12426;&#12398;&#22987;&#12414;&#12426;&#12395;

“Hey…”

“Can you hear me?”

Naegi Makoto groaned into his pillow. He wasn’t sure whether it was his mom trying to wake him up, or just Komaru pestering him, but either way, he knew it was way too early to be getting up. Just lifting his head was an effort—it felt like it was made of lead. But he probably should get up. There was something important today…wasn’t there? It was his first day at--

“Hey, are you alright?”

Naegi blinked. Why was everything so dim and murky? Was it even morning yet? There was someone standing over his bed, casting a shadow over him. Their face was an indistinguishable blur, but they seemed a lot taller than his mom or his little sister.

“…You're finally awake, huh?” That…was definitely an unfamiliar voice. A male voice. Naegi jolted upright and shook his head rapidly from side to side, as if that would clear his vision. It seemed to help, a little, but also made him feel like he was going to be sick.

“Who—Why…why are you in my room?” Naegi had meant for that to come out a little stronger. If there was some random person had barged into his room, he had a right to know why, didn’t he? The stranger’s face was coming into focus—it was a boy with wild hair, wearing a green coat and strange, strained looking smile.

“This is your room?” the boy asked him. “Are you sure? I might not be one to talk, but…if it is, you’ve got some awfully odd tastes.”

Naegi looked around. He noticed, belatedly, that he was not in his own bed, in his own room. He was wearing his hoody and jacket, not his pajamas. There was none of the usual furniture, just a rickety-looking wooden desk and the metal cot he was lying on. Instead of warm, fluffy carpet, there was a dingy concrete floor below. Instead of faded yellow wallpaper, there were dull, pitted concrete walls, smeared with…was that blood?

“Is that _blood_?” Naegi yelped. He tried to scramble out of the bed, but his arms and legs felt like they were made of jelly, and all he managed to do was get tangled in the blankets. He would have fallen onto the concrete floor, face-first—but the boy caught him by the shoulder and shoved him back onto the bed, laughing in a good-natured sort of way.

“Take it easy,” the boy said. “I’m guessing you still feel pretty sick. I know I did, when I first woke up.”

“There’s blood on the wall,” said Naegi. There was an enormous, dark red seven painted on the wall, right next to the bed. In fact, all of the walls had numbers painted on them, and there was a kind of lopsided arrow on the floor. Obviously, this boy had somehow failed to notice this, with the way he was smiling.

“I don’t think it is, actually. Dried blood would be a lot darker than that, so…it’s probably just red paint.”

“I see,” said Naegi. That was a relief to hear. But, wait a second—where was he? How had he gotten here? And who was this boy, again? He strained his memory, but the very last thing he could remember was arriving at the entrance hall to Hope’s Peak Academy. He’d been so excited that he’d arrived a little too early, and so he’d decided to explore the school. Everything after that was a blank. He had no idea how he had ended up in this cramped, dim little room. There were two doors in the room, and one was made of plated steel, he couldn’t help but notice. This didn’t just look like a cell, it _was_ a cell.

“Where am I?” Naegi asked, talking to himself more than anyone else, then jumped as the boy gave another light laugh.

“No clue,” the boy said. “I was sort of hoping you’d be able to tell me, but no such luck, huh?” Naegi stared at him. Not only had he woken up in a cell, but there was a complete stranger grinning at him, which he should probably be more worried about. Was this guy dangerous? Was he the one responsible to begin with? Naegi discarded those thoughts almost as soon as they came to him. Even if the boy’s calm was kind of unsettling…he couldn’t be much older than Naegi, if at all, and his stance was the exact opposite of threatening. Maybe he was another Hope’s Peak student?

“So do you think you’re up for talking?” the boy asked him. “If you want to lie down for a little longer, that’s okay, but…there are some things we need to figure out, don’t you think?” The boy backed away from the bed and perched on the edge of the desk, which creaked alarmingly under his weight. Since there were no chairs in the room, the desk was the only real place that he could sit.

“S-sure,” said Naegi. He didn’t feel that sick any more, just extremely confused, and more scared by the second.

“I guess we should really introduce ourselves, to start with,” the boy said. “My name’s Komaeda Nagito. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Naegi mumbled, more out of reflex than anything else. Normal introductions were awkward enough, but this was on another level entirely. “I’m Naegi Makoto. I…hope we get along?”

“I hope so too, Naegi-kun,” said the boy…Komaeda-kun. He was practically beaming now. “I have a really good feeling. I think that with you around, this is going to turn out to be as pleasant a hostage situation as it could possibly be.”

“H-hostage…what? Uh, could you please…explain…” Naegi’s mouth had gone dry. Surely not. He wasn’t being held hostage. That was something that only happened in movies. Okay, so maybe he’d technically been held hostage once before, but that had been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This was modern-day Japan, not some war-torn country where teenagers were grabbed off the street…right?

“Well, that’s what seems to be going on,” said Komaeda-kun. “I’m still figuring things out myself. I only woke up…maybe half an hour ago? You were asleep on the floor right beside me, and I tried to wake you up too, but you were completely dead to the world. That makes sense—you’re smaller than me, so whatever drug they used is going to wear off more slowly.”

“Drug…you’re saying I was drugged?” That would certainly explain why Naegi had felt so heavy and sick, as well as the hole in his memory. But did that mean someone had been lying in wait for him inside of Hope’s Peak itself? “Komaeda-kun, how do you know all this?”

“Oh, I don’t,” said Komaeda-kun with a small shrug. “It’s all just conjecture, but my memory is a bit of a mess, and it’s the only explanation that makes sense. Let’s see…I remember that I made it to school without too many problems. I was pretty early, and the front gate was locked, so I sort of let myself in, since there was no one else around. After that I wandered around the grounds, looking for a way to…looking around, but my memory cuts out after that. I’d like to say I was chloroformed, but that’s kind of a cliché, isn’t it? Well, whatever they used, it must have knocked me out fast and hard. I’m guessing that something pretty similar happened to you, Naegi-kun—but correct me if I’m wrong.”

“Pretty much,” Naegi replied. “I was about an hour early to my new school, so I thought I’d explore a little. Then…everything just went black.” His story and Komaeda-kun’s matched up, and Komaeda-kun’s explanation made sense, but it still felt like something was missing. “I just don’t get how someone could have been there without me noticing. And…there’s no reason that anyone would want to…d-drug me, or kidnap me, or anything like that.”

“Unfortunately, not everyone needs a reason to inflict pain and hardship on others,” said Komaeda-kun, growing thoughtful. He seemed to realize what he’d just said a moment later, or maybe he just saw the look on Naegi’s face, because he lifted his hands and laughed uncomfortably. “Hey, hey, sorry! I didn’t mean to imply we were kidnapped by a serial killer or a cultist or some kind of pervert! I really don’t think that’s the case. I mean…you mentioned your new school…it’s Hope’s Peak, isn’t it?”

Naegi nodded, and Komaeda-kun somehow managed to grin even wider.

“That’s just what I thought. We’re classmates! Or at least, we will be when we get out of here. But my point was that this wouldn’t be the first time Hope’s Peak students have been targeted. I mean, like it or not, we’re symbols of the nation’s hope…and there will always be people out there who are jealous of talent. Or they might be after a ransom, and figure snatching some Super High School Levels will get them a Super High School Level payout.”

This was apparently Komaeda-kun’s version of reassurance. And maybe it was just a little reassuring to think that there was a reason for what was going on, even if it was a terrifying reason. Komaeda-kun himself was also reassuring, in his own way. Naegi had been expecting his classmates to be cold, aloof, and intimidating, but Komaeda-kun was none of those things. If anything, he was kind of overly talkative, but he seemed genuinely pleased to have Naegi as his classmate. Naegi wished he could be friendlier in return, but he was still overwhelmed.

Naegi couldn’t help but wonder what Komaeda-kun’s talent might be. He would have remembered a name like Komaeda Nagito if he’d run across it during his web searches, so he must be one of the unknowns, just like Naegi. Maybe it was because of his talent that he was able to keep so calm…could he be something like a Super High School Level Spy, or even a Super High School Level Detective? Did they have those? In any case, all Naegi had to do was ask, but then Komaeda-kun would probably want to know Naegi’s talent in return, and he wasn’t sure he was up to explaining all about his own slightly dubious talent and the selection of Super High School Level Good Luck. He decided to keep quiet about it for now and focused on getting up, with much more success than he’d had before.

“I guess both doors are locked, huh?” said Naegi with a sigh, but Komaeda-kun shrugged.

“The one behind you is kind of hard to open, but it’s not locked,” he said. “There’s a shower room in there. Hey, that’s at least three less things for us to worry about, right? As for the big steel one…well, why don’t you look around for yourself? Not like there’s a lot else to do in here to pass the time.” The tilt of Komaeda-kun’s head made him seem almost sarcastic, but as far as Naegi could tell, he was being completely sincere. He also was probably right; it would be better to investigate his surroundings for himself.

Just as Komaeda-kun said, the handle to shower room took a bit of jiggling, but Naegi eventually got it open, and let the door fall half-shut behind him. Thankfully, the shower room was serviceable, and a lot cleaner than the cell itself. Wait a second, what was he thinking? It wasn’t like he was going to have to live in this place. Help would come pretty quickly, right? The school and their families would report him and Komaeda-kun missing and the police would track them down. This wasn’t a science-fiction manga, and there wasn’t any kind of secret prison where some…anti-Hope’s Peak terrorists could stow two people for days on end.

Naegi took deep breaths, sipped some water from the sink, and splashed his face a few times. It didn’t help. He was still scared, and although being scared was a perfectly normal, typical, utterly average reaction for an abducted high-schooler, he didn’t want to face Komaeda-kun like this. Komaeda-kun, he’d noticed, had a tendency to stare, and it was also probably perfectly normal and typical and utterly average for an abducted high-schooler to stare at the only other person trapped with him inside a tiny cell, but Naegi was starting to find it just the tiniest bit cr—

“Naegi-kun, did you see the—hey, are you sure you’re alright?” Komaeda-kun poked his head in the door, and Naegi stifled an unmanly yelp. He was being an idiot. There was nothing but concern on Komaeda-kun’s face.

“Yeah, just—looking around, like you said.” It turned out that Naegi wasn’t nearly as good at plastering on a convincing smile as Komaeda-kun, and that Komaeda-kun was either totally oblivious or intentionally ignoring the frantic signals Naegi was trying to send him: please leave me alone for five seconds, okay?

“You’re white as a ghost.” So was Komaeda-kun, for that matter, but that seemed to just be his natural complexion. He took a step forward, and Naegi took a step backward. The shower room had become very crowded very quickly. What did he even want?

“…I’m pretty freaked out,” Naegi admitted. “Who wouldn’t be? I mean…it’s just starting to sink in that this is actually real. We’ve actually been…kidnapped. Or something.”

“Ah, so that’s what’s bothering you,” said Komaeda-kun. “I’m guessing you’ve never been kidnapped before?"

“No. No, I haven’t,” stammered Naegi. Was Komaeda-kun trying to say that _he_ had been?

“There’s no reason to panic, yet,” said Komaeda-kun with a smile. He laid a hand on the wall and leaned casually against it, which also happened to cut off Naegi’s last potential escape route. “Whoever did this has taken a lot of care. Our captor seems like a professional, and as long as we cooperate, a professional isn’t going to risk even more criminal charges by hurting us. If we’d seen any faces or heard anything incriminating, that would be different, but since we were both unconscious when we were taken, if luck’s with us, we could be released totally unharmed!”

“Komaeda-kun, I’m sorry, but could you please stop talking about kidnapping? Just for a little while?” Naegi’s words caught embarrassingly at the end. He hadn’t expected it to actually work, but Komaeda-kun froze, his small smile instantly disappearing and his posture straightening out. Again, it was like he'd only just realized how strong he was coming off.

“You’re not helping,” Naegi said, a little more firmly. Maybe it was best to just say it straight. “I…can tell you mean well, Komaeda-kun, but you’re not helping. Please leave me alone.”

“Of course,” said Komaeda-kun quietly. He was already backing away, his hands up and his head slightly bowed. “I just wanted to make sure you saw…the note, since it’s kind of high up, and you’re kind of--I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone.” He retreated from the shower room, closing the door behind him, and Naegi let out a long sigh, part relief and part…he wasn’t quite sure. He’d gotten Komaeda-kun to back off, and it wasn’t like he’d been _mean_ about it. There was no reason to feel guilty or worry that he’d hurt Komaeda-kun’s feelings, when Komaeda-kun had been the one to back him into a corner, and kept using words like “captor” and “criminal charges” and “incriminating.”

What a mess this was. Naegi looked around for the note that Komaeda-kun had mentioned. He found it taped to the wall above his head and pulled it down to get a good look at what it said—which wasn’t much. It was a full sheet of paper that looked like it had once been a much longer list, but most of it had been scribbled over with black marker. All that was left was a typed word at the top: “Announcement.” And then, around the middle of the page. “Please note that during Night Time no water comes out.”

This had to be some kind of message from the one who'd taken them. Was it in code, or did it mean what it said? How was he supposed to know when it was night, anyway, with no windows? It was a simple message, but something about it made Naegi deeply uneasy.

Komaeda-kun was so certain that their “captor” was a professional…that they’d been kidnapped as a statement against Hope’s Peak or for ransom money. But there was a pretty clear contradiction. They’d been left in this cell without any explanation, and now there was this mysterious, blacked-out note…not to mention those bloody numbers painted on the wall of the cell…it was like they were being toyed with. Everything about their surroundings felt downright malicious. Couldn’t Komaeda-kun pick up on it?

He probably could. The more Naegi thought about it, the more obvious it became: Komaeda-kun was probably as scared as he was, and just had a different way of putting on a brave face. Naegi knew how important it was to stay calm and optimistic in a dangerous situation. He had to try hard too, and with that thought in mind, he braced himself and left the shower room.

Komaeda-kun was gone when he came out. No wait, there he was—kneeling beneath the desk with his legs sticking out, his tall and gangly frame crammed into a space way too small for it. What on earth was he doing under there?

“Komaeda-kun?” Naegi asked, hesitantly moving closer. He didn’t think he’d upset Komaeda-kun that badly, but this was a stressful environment, and maybe Komaeda-kun was more sensitive than he seemed. Apparently it was his turn to ask, “Is everything alright?”

“As good as could be expected!” replied Komaeda-kun brightly, to Naegi’s relief. His demeanor was back to normal, or at least what passed for normal with him. “I just wish I had some more light. I had my penlight on me this morning, but of course it was taken away. That’s just how these things go.” So he wasn’t offended…but it wasn’t any clearer what he was actually doing.

“And you need light to find…what, exactly?”

“I’m looking for weak spots, seams in the wood…that sort of thing.”

“And what are you going to do if you find a weak spot?”

“I’ll use it to break into the drawer.” Komaeda-kun wriggled out from beneath the desk and sat back onto the floor. His hair was now speckled with dust and who knew what else. “The drawer is locked, you see. Don’t locked drawers really drive you crazy? I bet there’s something interesting in there, but this desk is a lot sturdier than you’d think. It would take us way too much time and effort to break it to pieces with sheer force.”

“I don’t think whoever put us here will be happy if we start destroying the furniture,” said Naegi uncomfortably. Komaeda-kun had been the one to mention cooperation, after all.

“Well, the only thing to do is ask,” said Komaeda-kun. He rose with one swift motion and cupped his hands around his mouth—the only warning Naegi got before he started yelling at the top of his lungs. “ _Hey_! Kidnapper-saaaan! Will you be mad if I break the desk?”

The echoes of Komaeda-kun’s yell seemed to linger in every nook and cranny in the cell. It was followed by complete silence, apart from Naegi’s pulse pounding in his ears. His legs had gone wobbly again, so he sat back on the bed, while Komaeda-kun waited with his head cocked and his arms folded for a response that never came.

“I don’t know about you, Naegi-kun, but I’m going to interpret silence as permission,” said Komaeda-kun, nodding in satisfaction. “There’s no way they aren’t keeping tabs on us, so they ought to say something if they don’t like it.”

“K-Komaeda-kun…” Naegi trailed off weakly, unsure of what he wanted to say, or how to put it. Maybe something like, “Please don’t provoke our mysterious, possibly mentally unstable and sadistic captor,” but Komaeda-kun didn’t even seem to think he was acting particularly…provocative? No, he couldn’t tell Komaeda-kun to stop being provocative, that meant something else entirely.

“Oh,” said Komaeda-kun, before Naegi could think of how to put it nicely, and his face fell visibly, though he tried to mask it with another of his smiles right after. “I’m being weird again, aren’t I. Sorry, Naegi-kun. Just tell me whenever that happens and I’ll shut up right away, okay?”

“No, no, that wasn’t what I was trying—uh, I’m the one who should—Komaeda-kun, I’m not trying to tell you to shut up!” said Naegi hastily. Komaeda-kun really seemed to be taking his every look and word to heart, and maybe he was odd, but making him feel bad for trying so hard to stay upbeat was the exact opposite of what Naegi wanted.

“I’m the one who should apologize,” Naegi continued, finally getting his thoughts in order. “I kind of snapped at you earlier, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t get upset at you when it’s the situation that’s screwed up. So don’t worry about me, okay?”

“Naegi-kun, please don’t apologize! There’s no reason for you to ever apologize to someone like me!” This was not going well. Instead of relaxing, Komaeda-kun was now edging away from dejected and more towards distraught. “You have every right to be angry! After all, this is really all my fault, so if you want to vent all your anger on me, you should feel free!”

“Komaeda-kun, I promise I’m not angry at you, I’m just—wait, what did you say? This is your fault?” Naegi blinked, forgetting what he’d been intending to say. It was Komaeda-kun’s fault? What was that supposed to mean?

Komaeda-kun fell suddenly silent. His smile twitched a little on one side; he clearly hadn’t meant to let that slip. Even though everything about him screamed guilt…Naegi couldn’t find it in him to suspect Komaeda-kun of any wrongdoing. If anything, Komaeda-kun looked kind of scared. Naegi had never experienced what it was like to have a person scared of him, but he’d accidentally cornered a rabbit in the schoolyard once before. Komaeda-kun’s eyes reminded him of the rabbit’s.

“Komaeda-kun,” said Naegi carefully. “Is there something important you aren’t telling me?”

“I…” Komaeda-kun swallowed heavily. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Naegi-kun. Everything I told you is the truth, I swear!”

“I believe you,” said Naegi. “Of course I do. But did you leave something out?”

“You probably wouldn't believe it,” said Komaeda-kun quietly. “So I thought it was best just not to mention it. It doesn’t change anything, and you’d just think I was crazy, and no one wants to be locked up with a crazy person, totally understandably--”

“You don’t know what I’ll think until you tell me about it,” said Naegi. That was putting it diplomatically, but well, even if Komaeda-kun secretly believed they’d been abducted by aliens or spirited away by a Totoro or something, he clearly needed to get whatever it was off his chest. _Crazy_ was kind of an ugly word, really.

The look Komaeda-kun was giving Naegi now was uncomfortably scrutinizing. There wasn’t a trace of cornered rabbit left in him—he was clearly weighing his options. Then, apparently reaching his conclusion, Komaeda-kun sighed and dropped back down to the floor, his knees bunched up in front of him.

“Do you believe in luck?” Komaeda-kun asked. It was a pretty awkward way to hold a conversation, with Naegi on the bed and Komaeda-kun on the floor, and Komaeda-kun seemed to be purposefully averting his eyes, but Naegi did his best.

“If you’re asking whether I’m superstitious…not really. But it’s not like I’m a skeptic, either. I don’t think about it all that much.” It was an utterly run-of-the-mill answer, but it was the truth. The letter from Hope’s Peak touting his so-called Super High School Level Good Luck hadn’t done much to change his opinion. Someone had to get the letter, right?

“I’m not talking about superstition, Naegi-kun,” said Komaeda-kun. “Charms and rabbit feet are objects. Rituals are meaningless. But luck is an absolute force, and it follows you from the time you’re born to the time you die.” How was it, Naegi wondered, that Komaeda-kun could talk about being kidnapped with a smile and a laugh, but was now going on about luck with a tone of utmost solemnity?

“Normal people have normal luck,” continued Komaeda-kun. “An occasional mishap, an occasional stroke of good fortune, a few predictable tragedies scattered across their lifetime, but most of their days will be dull and peaceful.”

“And you’re…not normal?” Naegi guessed, furrowing his brow.

“Exactly. I guess you could say I’m blessed with good luck.” Komaeda-kun certainly didn’t sound like he thought he was blessed. His voice was flinty and his eyes were narrowed. “But there’s a catch to it, too. Good luck and bad luck always come hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other…and when your good luck is very good, your bad luck…Do you see what I mean?

“Kind of,” said Naegi. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand what Komaeda-kun was getting at, but just because he understood the logic didn’t mean he was convinced.

“I…” Komaeda-kun hesitated for a moment, and let out a breath of a laugh. “Well, to be honest, I’ve had a spot of bad luck recently, and thought I would be safe. I should never have been so careless. Actually being allowed to set foot Hope’s Peak…that’s not a privilege to be bought cheaply. But it’s absolutely _unforgiveable_ , getting a Super High School Level caught up in bad luck that was meant for me.”

“Isn’t that just…what do you call it…confirmation bias?” Naegi said, growing a little alarmed by the vehemence of Komaeda-kun’s tone. “Everyone has spates of good luck and bad luck, but if you’re searching for a pattern in it, you’re going to find one.”

“See, of course you don't believe me,” said Komaeda-kun. “It probably won’t change your mind, but it’s not like I’m the only one who believes in luck. Hope’s Peak Academy—“

“I know,” said Naegi, raising his hands, and Komaeda cut himself off. “They do research on luck. I guess if there are a lot of people a lot smarter than me researching something, I should believe in it. But…whether it’s real or not, that doesn’t make it your fault that this happened. It’s not like you can control your own luck, right?”

“No,” breathed Komaeda-kun. “Of course I can’t. You couldn’t make it up as a joke. A Super High School Level with an utterly pathetic excuse for a talent that he can’t even control—“

“So your talent is your luck?” Naegi asked, furrowing his brow. That…couldn’t be right, could it? After all, Naegi was—

“Super High School Level Good Luck, that’s me,” said Komaeda-kun darkly, but then he lifted his chin, giving Naegi a weak grin. “They drew my name out of a lottery. I’m sorry, Naegi-kun. You were probably expecting something better. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide it or anything. I was planning to tell you right away and it was just never quite the right time!”

Naegi had to laugh. He wasn’t prepared for the way Komaeda-kun flinched and abruptly lowered his face, as if he’d been slapped, and hastily started to explain himself.

“Komaeda-kun,” he said, “I’m…not sure exactly what’s going on, but…you don’t have to be ashamed about your talent. It’s my talent, too.” There was a beat of silence.

“I’m sorry?” Komaeda-kun raised his head and gave him a somewhat dazed look. He was still smiling, but it was clearly just lingering there, like a chalkboard someone had forgotten to erase. “Could you repeat that, Naegi-kun? I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“It’s my talent too,” repeated Naegi, though he was pretty sure he’d spoken perfectly clearly. “I got a letter from Hope’s Peak saying I’d won their lottery…that I was Super High School Level Good Luck. Weird, huh? I mean, you think they would have mentioned…that you were also…”

“Please don’t lie to me, Naegi-kun,” said Komaeda-kun. “That’s impossible.” And he was still smiling, and his voice was soft, with the little hint of laughter that followed a lot of what he said. Naegi couldn’t pin down what exactly had changed. But a shiver ran down his spine, and he knew, somehow, that Komaeda-kun wasn’t joking. In fact, there were exactly three things he was suddenly perfectly sure of:

First impressions could be deceiving.

He’d just made an awful mistake.

Someone, somewhere, was laughing at them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content notes below
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> major character death, suicide, unhappy ending  
> dubiously consensual and nonconsensual kissing/touching/bondage, threats of rape (Komaeda/Naegi)  
> nonconsensual kissing/touching/bondage, implied rape, physical abuse (Enoshima/Komaeda, the pairing is your warning)
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	2. The Final Dead Room

“Why on earth would I lie to you about my talent?” It was the only thing Naegi could think to say. It was clearly not the right thing to say, because Komaeda-kun was on his feet and bristling, his fists tightly clenched. Naegi’s only consolation was that there probably _wasn’t_ aright thing to say. Komaeda-kun’s attitude had changed instantly and irreversibly the moment Naegi had mentioned his talent.

“I don’t know why,” said Komaeda-kun. His voice was deceptively even, but a visible tremor passed through his entire body. “You’ll have to explain your reasoning. After all, it’s a rather stupid lie. Only one Super High School Level Good Luck is selected per year. Choosing two would just defeat the point.”

“You--You can’t say that for sure,” Naegi replied “I mean…two people can be lucky at the same time. Right? Maybe they’re taking their research in a different direction this year, or…there was an empty spot that needed to be filled at the last minute.” Naegi wasn’t even convinced by his own arguments; something was definitely off. He wouldn’t blame Komaeda-kun for worrying that his place at Hope’s Peak might be in jeopardy…was he just in denial?

“I tried to refuse,” said Komaeda-kun flatly. Apparently this meant something to him, but Naegi couldn’t even guess what he was talking about.

“You tried to refuse what?”

“My invitation,” said Komaeda-kun. He was starting to pace back and forth, though there wasn’t nearly enough space for it in the tiny cell. Every few steps he would have to turn sharply on his heels, roiling with nervous energy all the while. “I told them that I wasn’t worthy, but they insisted and insisted. They said it absolutely had to be me, that I would disrupt their research and cause trouble for everyone with my stubbornness…they broke me down. Why would they be so desperate to have a piece of garbage like me attend Hope’s Peak if they had a spare?”

Every time Naegi thought he was starting to follow Komaeda-kun’s logic, it went spinning off in another direction entirely. If he hadn’t even wanted to attend Hope’s Peak in the first place, why was he so bothered? And…why had he just called himself a piece of garbage?

“Komaeda-kun, you need to calm down.” Naegi was almost pleading now. “Maybe there’s been some misunderstanding. If there was, I’m sure it’ll all get sorted out! But there’s no use getting worked up about it while we’re stuck in here. Until we’re free, it doesn’t matter what’s going on at Hope’s Peak.”

Komaeda-kun froze so abruptly that Naegi instantly knew he’d screwed up, yet again. Slowly, Komaeda-kun turned to look at him, his eyes icy. He drew himself up to his full height.

“Huh? It doesn’t _matter_?” Komaeda-kun’s gaze was full of such contempt that Naegi was shaken despite knowing he’d done nothing to deserve it. “I beg to differ, Naegi-kun. If you’re lying to me about this, then who knows what else you’re lying about? Maybe you’re not another hostage—you’re one of the kidnappers, keeping an eye on me.”

“What? That’s ridiculous!” Naegi blurted, aghast. Komaeda-kun shrugged and waved a dismissive hand.

“But more importantly, even if you’re just a fraud, I can’t forgive anyone who would sully the name of Hope’s Peak Academy by claiming a talent he doesn’t have--no matter how worthless. It’s the principle of the thing.”

Komaeda-kun was going to snap out of it at any moment. He would laugh at how flustered Naegi was getting at his little joke, or to hang his head and apologize for acting so weird again. Naegi, for his part, would jump at any sort of excuse to move past this. He would never mention his talent again. He would do his very best to pretend that this argument had never taken place, and that Komaeda-kun wasn’t starting to genuinely frighten him.

His chance never came. Komaeda-kun just continued to stare at him, almost expectantly. What would he do if Naegi told him what he wanted to hear? …What would he do if Naegi didn’t?

“Wait, I can prove I’m telling the truth!” An idea came to Naegi in a rush. He could easily settle this for sure, and then Komaeda-kun might go back to normal. “I have my acceptance letter right here in my…pocket…” Naegi reached into his pants pocket, ready to produce the evidence, but his relief at having found a solution was short-lived. He very clearly remembered folding up the letter and putting it in his pocket after making sure of the time he was supposed to meet his classmates. It was gone. Instead, there was something small and smooth, with a jagged edge…a key?

“Can’t find it?” asked Komaeda-kun, raising his eyebrows. “That’s a pity.”

“It--it must have been taken,” Naegi said. He could feel his cheeks growing hot. “You said you had something taken, too. A penlight.”

“Yes, well,” said Komaeda-kun. “That is true. My pockets were empty when I woke up, so you have a convenient excuse.”

“Komaeda-kun…” Naegi was at a loss. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me what you really are,” said Komaeda-kun. “Hope’s Peak doesn’t make mistakes. One of us is either lying or delusional. I know I’m not lying and I’d like to think I’m not delusional, so that leaves you, Naegi-kun. I guess it’s possible you honestly believe what you’re saying. Or…could forgery be involved?”

In other words, Naegi was wasting his breath. He paused for a moment, trying to collect himself—he wanted to strike back, to argue that Komaeda-kun didn’t have any more proof than he did that he was who he said he was, but it would be pointless.

“We shouldn’t fight,” Naegi said quietly. “This isn’t the time or the place. If you want to think that I’m a liar…that’s on you. All I can do is ask you to trust me.” He steeled himself for whatever would come next; Komaeda-kun’s eyes were narrowed, and he didn’t seem likely to let this go. But either something in what Naegi had said struck home, or he was just as sick as Naegi of this pointless argument, because his shoulders lost just a little of their tension.

“Fighting? Who’s fighting?” Komaeda-kun turned his face away. “I didn’t think that was what we were doing. But have it your way.”

Despite what he said, Komaeda-kun had started moving again, and this time, it wasn’t aimless pacing. Up until then, he’d stayed on the opposite side of the room; that had been the only thing keeping Naegi’s unease under control. As Komaeda-kun approached the bed, Naegi scooted backwards until his back was pressed between the bedframe and the wall.

“As long as you don’t get in my way, everything should be fine,” Komaeda-kun said. “The truth will always come out sooner or later.” The mattress squeaked and bounced beneath Naegi as Komaeda-kun plopped himself down on the other side of the bed. Even if they weren’t right next to each other, he was far too close for comfort; Naegi wouldn’t be able to get off the bed without coming within reach of his arms.

“Tell you what, Naegi-kun,” said Komaeda-kun conversationally. He flashed an utterly guileless smile, so like the Komaeda-kun Naegi had woken up to that Naegi never would have known the difference. “Say it turns out I’m wrong. Say _I’m_ the delusional one, and you’re the real Super High School Level Good Luck…and I almost hope that you are. I had such a good feeling about you! I don’t want you to be a fraud!” His voice rose steadily with excitement as he went on; Naegi thought at first he was still being sarcastic, but he actually seemed _sincere_.

“I’ll make up for doubting you in full,” Komaeda-kun continued. “Would kneeling down on the floor and licking your shoes be a good enough apology? No, no, that wouldn’t even come close. I’m sure you could come up with a much more creative punishment than that. Won’t that be something to look forward to?” Naegi was starting to get sick to his stomach again, and it had nothing to do with any sort of drug. He wanted to close his eyes or hide his face; anything to escape from Komaeda-kun’s unblinking, avid eyes. But he couldn’t bring himself to look away, either.

“And of course, if I find proof that you’re lying—“

“Komaeda-kun,” said Naegi in a small voice. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” asked Komaeda-kun. He was the very picture of innocence.

“Stop talking like this. You’re…you’re scaring me.” Naegi didn’t know why he thought that would make a difference. Something…something was wrong with Komaeda-kun. He could tell that much. But he’d seemed so warm and full of real concern before. There had to be some way to bring him back to his senses, and there was nothing left to try but appealing to his common decency.

“Naegi-kun, really,” Komaeda-kun sighed and gave him a wounded look. “Why should _you_ be scared of _me_? What have I done? Do I seem like a violent person to you? I’m not going to hurt you or anything—not unless you give me a really good reason.”

Naegi shuddered. The real question was what exactly qualified as a good reason in Komaeda-kun’s mind. But it wasn’t that he was truly afraid that Komaeda-kun was about to attack him at any moment. If Komaeda-kun was going to get violent, he probably would have earlier, when he’d been stewing with outrage at the idea of Naegi “sullying” Hope’s Peak.

No, what Naegi felt was just the fear of being penned in with someone he couldn’t understand or predict in the slightest…someone who’d abruptly started to look at him with suspicion and hatred over something entirely out of his control. Or was it hatred? Naegi couldn’t even figure out that much. All he knew was that even if Komaeda-kun was calmer now, there was absolutely no way of predicting what might set him off next.

“You’re starting to make me feel a little guilty,” said Komaeda-kun, almost gently. “Like I’m the bad guy! I do think you’re right about one thing. We should try to get along as best we can while we’re in here. If you’re going to curl up and sulk just because I called you a liar, that’s not going to happen.”

Maybe if Naegi ducked his head and pretended he couldn’t hear, Komaeda-kun would lose interest and go away. Almost everything he said just seemed to make matters worse, so it was worth a try.

“Chin up, Naegi-kun. Hey, Naegi-kun. Naegi-kun _,_ c’mon. I promise I’ll stop bothering you if you do just one thing for me.”

“…What?” Naegi asked, against his better judgment.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s nothing weird! I just noticed you were playing with something in your pocket earlier. Could you show it to me?”

Naegi had forgotten completely about the odd object that had appeared in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out. Just as he’d thought, it was a tiny key, spotted with rust and completely unfamiliar to him.

“A key? What does it go to?” Komaeda-kun asked.

“It isn’t mine. Someone…must have put it in there.” The only one it could have been was his kidnapper. Or, Naegi supposed, Komaeda-kun himself, but he refused to follow that train of thought. Komaeda-kun’s paranoia was more than enough for both of them.

“Can I borrow it?” Komaeda-kun stuck out his hand, palm up. Naegi wasn’t exactly in the mood to go along with whatever Komaeda-kun wanted, but he also couldn’t see any harm in handing it over.

“Fine,” Naegi said. He leaned forward and dropped the key into Komaeda-kun’s palm from a good distance above.

“What, you’re not even going to ask why I want it?” Komaeda-kun blinked at him. “You don’t drive a very hard bargain.”

“Just take it.” While Komaeda-kun was distracted examining the key, Naegi took the opportunity to scramble off the bed. It felt a little better to be on his feet…though he still had nowhere to go. He eyed the door to the shower room, wondering if Komaeda-kun would follow him if he tried to shut himself up in there again. Probably, since there was no lock to keep him out, and then Naegi would really be trapped.

“You don’t have anything else secreted away, do you?” Komaeda-kun asked suddenly, and Naegi jumped a little.

“I wasn’t hiding it,” Naegi said, gritting his teeth. “I didn’t even know it was there.”

“Of course you didn’t. You know, Naegi-kun, if you really want to put my mind at ease, there is one more thing…You did say you wanted me to trust you, right?” That was _all_ Naegi wanted (other than a way out): for Komaeda-kun to start believing what he said and stop throwing barbs and jibes at every opportunity. The glint in Komaeda-kun’s eyes didn’t exactly promise reconciliation, though.

“I thought you were going to leave me alone,” said Naegi. He wished he had the guts to turn his back on Komaeda-kun completely, but he also wanted to keep him in sight.

“If that’s what you want! But first, how about you take off your clothes for me?”

It took Naegi a moment to process what Komaeda-kun had just said.

“What _? Why_?” It had to have been a joke. But Komaeda-kun wasn’t smiling. He twirled the key between two fingers and watched Naegi’s face with a pensive expression.

“It’s the only way for me to be sure you’re not concealing anything else…something dangerous, even,” said Komaeda-kun. “I’ll return the favor, of course. I think it would help us both trust each other a little more.”

“ _No_ ,” said Naegi sharply. “No, that wouldn’t even--I’m not hiding anything!”

“Why are you going red?” Komaeda-kun asked, cocking his head to the side in what seemed to be honest bemusement. “I don’t see the problem. We’re both male. And you can keep your underwear on, I suppose.”

“I don’t care! I’m not going to strip just to satisfy you! What the—what the hell is wrong with you?” Naegi had more to add, but was too flustered to continue. He’d known that something was off with Komaeda-kun, but _this—_ putting everything else aside, they’d met each other less than an hour ago, and Komaeda-kun already wanted to get naked together?

“So that’s a refusal,” said Komaeda-kun with a sigh. “What a pity.” He stood, the movement so sudden and deliberate that Naegi flinched a little. Komaeda-kun’s face gave Naegi absolutely no clue what he was thinking, and an awful possibility occurred to him. What if…Komaeda-kun didn’t actually intend to give him a choice?

No, Naegi was just too rattled to think straight. Komaeda-kun might be full of weird ideas and bluster and even insinuations that inched awfully close to threats…but he was Naegi’s classmate, supposedly, even if he refused to accept that himself. He was just another kid stuck in a horrible situation. It had just been a tasteless joke, or at worst a stupid hypothetical idea. Komaeda-kun was…

Komaeda-kun was looking Naegi up and down in a very calculating way, and not even bothering to hide it.

Naegi started to edge back towards the shower room door. If Komaeda-kun took even one step towards him, that was where he would go—he hoped he could manage to get it open in time. Maybe it was a bad idea, but a door between them suddenly seemed a lot better than nothing. Maybe he could hold it closed, if he leaned against it with all his strength? Was there anything he could use to jam it closed?

“Naegi-kun,” said Komaeda-kun gravely.

“Wh--What is it now?” Naegi tried to sound casual. He didn’t want to give away that he was about to bolt, but a slight quaver snuck into his voice anyway.

“You take everything so seriously. I know you’re not carrying any weapons.” And with that, Komaeda-kun turned his face away, and the moment of tension was broken. Naegi would never have admitted it, but his first reaction was relief so powerful that he got a bit weak at the knees.

The anger came after, twisting sickeningly in the bottom of his stomach. He didn’t think he was imagining things; Komaeda-kun had purposefully let him think he might force the issue.

“So it _was_ a joke after all,” said Naegi.

“Sort of. I guess I mostly wanted to see if you’d really do absolutely anything you were told.” Komaeda-kun laughed lightly and held up the key. “But since I missed this the first time around, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.”

“Whatever it was, it wasn’t funny,” Naegi muttered. Komaeda-kun just ignored him, moving to the desk and leaning down to examine it.

Wait a second, what exactly did “the first time around” mean, anyway? Naegi considered asking, and then decided he didn’t actually want to know the answer. This was a side of Komaeda-kun that was all too easy to understand: behind the bright smiles and the laughter, he could be just plain cruel. Was that just his real personality? Or…did he see Naegi as some sort of threat that had to be hammered down?

Whichever it was, Naegi couldn’t let it get to him. He couldn’t retreat, because that was probably exactly what Komaeda-kun wanted, and it would only get worse if he just gave Komaeda-kun whatever he wanted. He forced himself to follow after Komaeda-kun and stand almost shoulder to shoulder with him…well, shoulder to forearm. It looked like Komaeda-kun was still preoccupied with that locked drawer he’d mentioned earlier.

As Naegi watched, Komaeda-kun inserted the key into the small, rusted lock on one of the drawers. Despite the rust, the key turned easily, and there was an audible click. Oh. That made sense. Komaeda-kun didn’t open the drawer right away, though. For some reason, he was hesitating.

“You might want to stand further back, Naegi-kun,” he murmured. “Seems like that key was meant to be found…so the drawer might be rigged. There’s no reason for us both to get hurt if it is.”

Naegi’s curiosity won out, and he stayed where he was. But—had he heard that correctly? Komaeda-kun had passed it off as a matter of practicality, but it almost sounded like he was worried about Naegi getting hurt. Even if he was a bit of a bully…even if he was more than a bit unhinged…Komaeda-kun was….

“Oh, I’m sorry, I completely forgot,” Komaeda-kun continued. “You’re Super High School Level Good Luck, after all! You should be perfectly fine no matter what happens, so never mind me.”

An ass. That was what he was. Naegi didn’t have much time to dwell on it, though. Komaeda-kun opened the drawer, which squealed a bit but didn’t explode or shoot out spikes or spit fire. The only thing inside was a small red tool kit.

Not that there wasn’t anything odd about the tool kit. In fact, everything about it felt somehow out of place. In contrast with the shabby desk, the tool kit was bright and looked brand new. It had never been used; it still had plastic film wrapped around it.

Inside the kit was a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and even a hammer. Why would any right-thinking kidnapper purposefully leave something in the cell that could be used as a tool to escape, or even a weapon? Sure, it had been inside a locked drawer, but…Naegi had to agree with Komaeda-kun. The key had been left in his pocket so that it would be found. Whoever had locked them up wanted them to have this.

It gave Naegi that same ominous feeling as the note and the red numbers on the walls: that they were being toyed with. Komaeda-kun seemed pleased, though. He picked up the toolkit, nodding his head as if he were confirming something, and immediately tore open the plastic wrap.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Naegi asked, a little alarmed, but Komaeda-kun didn’t reply, or even seem to have heard him. Naegi had thought he would go for the hammer, but he pulled out the screwdriver before setting the toolkit on top of the desk. For some reason, he was staring into the now ehmpty drawer. Then he swiveled his head, his eyes wandering all around the room, before he strode off towards the steel-plated drawer with screwdriver in hand.

Naegi peered into the drawer. There was something written on the inside, in the same red paint as the numbers: “Look at the NEWS.”

“What on earth… “ It was just another meaningless message to Naegi, but Komaeda-kun seemed to have gotten something out of it. Naegi peered over his shoulder, and found that he already had one screw loose on a little metal plate set into the wall next to the steel door. Komaeda-kun made quick work of all four screws holding it on, revealing a numbered dial, like one from a safe, with a button and a tiny red light beside it. Then he glanced over his shoulder.

“What do you think about all this, Naegi-kun?” he asked. It seemed like it might actually be a serious question.

“It looks like…it might be a way to unlock the door,” said Naegi, though he couldn’t be sure. “If you put in the right code…”

“That’s the conclusion you’d naturally jump to, isn’t it?” Komaeda-kun’s face grew clouded. “If the drawer wasn’t a trap, this almost certainly has to be one. There’s no way it’s going to be this easy.”

“This easy…so you think you can guess the code?” Well, with only four numbers on the dial, they could just every possible combination until they stumbled on the right one.

“It’s only written on the walls. Try to keep up, would you?”

“I-If you would actually explain what you’re thinking—“

Komaeda-kun huffed and tapped his foot.

“The clue is written in the drawer. NEWS stands for north, east, west, and south in English. If you orient yourself with that helpful arrow on the floor, then look north, east, west and south, you get the code: 3759.”

“That’s…kind of a big leap of logic, Komaeda-kun.” Not that Naegi should be surprised at this point.

“It couldn’t be much simpler, actually. Which is why it’s probably a trap.”

“Or none of this actually means what you think it means,” Naegi muttered, but his heart was starting to speed up regardless. Komaeda-kun was confirming what he’d suspected all along—this wasn’t a “typical” kidnapping, and whoever had taken them had plans beyond just keeping them in a cell.

“Or that,” said Komaeda-kun. “It could just be an elaborate joke on us. Maybe the code and the clues have no relation to each other. Maybe the dial isn’t even connected to the lock. There’s nothing saying the one who set all this up has to play by any sort of rules.” They both stood there for a few moments, looking down at the dial.

“…Aren’t you going to try it anyway?” Naegi asked.

“Of course. We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Komaeda-kun replied. He was right. They _could_ ignore the dial and the door, and wait in the cell for whatever might happen next…but that didn’t feel like an option at all.

Komaeda-kun turned the dial with quick fingers and pressed the button. There was a beep, the little light turned green, and Naegi thought he heard a brief, faint grinding noise. Apparently, Komaeda-kun’s reasoning had been on the mark. So far, so good. No explosions, or spikes, or fire.

Naegi reached for the door’s simple metal handle and gave it a wrench before he could think any more about it. The door was so heavy and unwieldy that he had to brace both heels against the floor, but it opened, groaning and protesting the entire time, and when he released the handle, it stayed open. Komaeda-kun stepped through the doorway, and Naegi followed.

They’d just walked into…a kitchen. A huge, industrial kitchen, where it would be impossible to actually cook anything. Not only was it dim, with an unpleasant musty smell, but it looked like it was being used as a storage room: every available surface was covered with pots, glassware, and other junk, stacked up to the ceiling. It was so dark and chaotic that it was hard for Naegi to even make out the shape of the room, but he got a general sense of it after a while. Counters and cabinets crowded the walls, and there was a prominent island in the very middle of the room. There were not one, not two, but three refrigerators, and their almost inaudible humming was the only noise. And there was another steel-plated door, exactly like the one they’d just opened.

Komaeda-kun stayed near the doorway, his posture hunched with caution and his eyes darting all about, like he couldn’t decide what exactly he wanted to look at. Naegi was most intrigued by the refrigerators. He hadn’t had much time to think about it yet, but…he was already starting to get kind of hungry, and he figured that a fridge was a good place to start a search for something to eat.

Naegi started towards the refrigerators. He didn’t bother to say anything to Komaeda-kun, who would probably just tell him that they were almost certainly rigged, or full of dismembered body parts, or some other cheery insight. He watched his feet as he walked; there were pots and buckets littering the floor, just waiting to be stepped in, and a long row of mops and brooms leaning against the counters, their handles jutting out into his path.

“Hey, Naegi-kun, where are you going? Something catch your eye?” Naegi could hear Komaeda-kun coming up behind him, but he didn’t turn or reply. Komaeda-kun was undeterred. “Don’t ditch me. That’s kind of cold.”

“Not like you seem to want my help,” Naegi muttered.

“I just don’t want you messing with anything before I’ve had the chance to look at it. Don’t you think we both benefit if you let me take care of all the investigating?”

“Komaeda-kun—“ Naegi half-turned, ready to finish the thought with something very, very close to ”leave me the hell alone like you promised,” but he somehow forgot to inform his legs that he was stopping. Of course, the moment he took his eyes off the ground, his foot got caught against something. Naegi tried to turn back around and get a good look at whatever he’d stepped on, but only ended up losing his balance completely and toppling forward. It was the kind of slow fall where he knew he was falling, and why he was falling, but still couldn’t do a thing to stop it.

Naegi noticed an odd, sharp whizzing sound, along with the soft tinkle, almost like a chime. Then he hit the floor; at least he’d caught himself on his hands instead of smashing into the tile face-first. But before he could even raise his head, a cup smashed against the floor, and he ducked down. Another fell, and another, and a pan clanged tinnily against a counter right above him; what followed after was a complete pandemonium of screeching glass and metal. All Naegi could do was close his eyes and bury his head beneath his arms while the room seemed to shatter around him.

But just as suddenly as the noise had begun, it came to an end. For a few moments, the ringing in Naegi’s ears was still so loud, he couldn’t be sure that it was actually over. He was shivering all over with nervous tension…but to his amazement, he didn’t think he was actually hurt at all, other than the jolt he’d gotten when he fell. Naegi opened his eyes and drew back his arms, though he didn’t dare move any more than that.

Those stacks of kitchenware were now a lot less tall than they had been. Dozens of pots, glasses, bowls, and who knew what else had all fallen at once in some sort of chain reaction…since Naegi had been lying on the floor, it had really felt like he was being bombarded. Maybe he’d knocked against something when he fell, and that had been the trigger. Naegi slowly sat up, careful of the treacherous shards of glass that were scattered all over the floor, and noticed as he did so a little tug at one of his ankles.

There was a loop of some kind of thread or cord wrapped around Naegi’s ankle. It seemed to be fishing line, nearly invisible in the dim light; he found it only by touch. It came free easily when he pulled at it with his fingers, and from there, he followed the line to a tiny metal bolt that had been soldered to one of the counters, right at ankle height.

The fishing line must have been strung up in the aisle between the counters and the isle. The fishing line had been what Naegi tripped over in the first place, and the fishing line had probably been the real trigger for all that chaos. It hadn’t been just some wild, improbable accident, he’d stumbled straight into a _trap_ , just like Komaeda-kun kept going on about—

Why hadn’t Komaeda-kun said anything? Naegi’s heart jumped straight up into his throat; he’d been in such a state of shock that he’d forgotten all about Komaeda-kun. Naegi jolted to his feet, looking all about wildly, but Komaeda-kun wasn’t exactly difficult to find. He was sprawled on his stomach less than a meter away from where Naegi had fallen, pinned beneath three brooms. There were tiny pieces of glass on top of his coat and even in his hair.

He wasn’t moving.

“Komaeda-kun! Komaeda-kun, are you okay?” What an utterly pointless thing to yell. It wasn’t like Komaeda-kun had decided to lie down for a nap. There was—there was blood, little spatters of it on the floor and on a nearby, overturned metal bucket, more seeping out from beneath Komaeda-kun’s downturned head. Naegi rushed over, tossed aside the brooms one after another, and felt for Komaeda-kun’s pulse, like he’d seen it done in movies. Komaeda-kun…wasn’t dead, at least. Of course he wasn’t dead. He’d just been knocked out…that metal bucket was the likely culprit. Any second now, he was going to wake up.

The prospect of actually moving Komaeda-kun’s body filled Naegi with dread—he might just mess things up even more. But letting him lie face-down in his own blood didn’t exactly seem like the right thing to do, either. First Naegi took off his jacket and used it to brush aside as much of the glass on and around Komaeda-kun as he could, though there was so much of it, and it was so hard to see. Then he seized Komaeda-kun by the shoulders and managed to heave him into a sort of sitting position against the counters. His neck was lolling alarmingly to the side…Naegi really hoped he wasn’t doing more harm than good.

Komaeda-kun’s face wasn’t as bad as Naegi had imagined it, though it still made him shudder. He had a few cuts on his face, none terribly deep. Most of the blood was coming from a wound higher up on his head. Naegi had nothing to wipe it off with other than the sleeve of his jacket. He didn’t know what to do, other than wipe away the blood.

If Naegi continued to go by the movies he’d watched, he could try rousing Komaeda-kun with a slap or a bucket of cold water. Somehow, he didn’t think either of those things were a good idea. Was it all his fault for watching too many action movies and not enough medical dramas? He could feel himself starting to get slightly hysterical.

“Komaeda-kun, wake up!” Naegi shouted. “Please, please, please wake up! Just open your eyes, okay? Just for a little bit? Please?” As if asking nicely would do the trick.

Bizarrely enough, it was almost like it did.

Komaeda-kun’s eyelids fluttered, and his breathing hitched; Naegi held his own breath. When Komaeda-kun’s eyes eventually settled on open, if unfocused and baffled, Naegi had to restrain himself from yelling out a celebratory, “You’re alive!” Not that it had ever been in question, but…Naegi had been seriously worried for a moment there. No matter how scary being shut up in here with Komaeda-kun was, the idea of losing the only other person shut up in here with him was a whole lot scarier.

“Who’s…oh. Naegi…kun?” Komaeda-kun might not sound very sure of himself, but he even remembered who Naegi was! He didn’t have amnesia, which was, after all, another thing that only happened in movies.

“Yeah, I’m right here. You can see me?” Naegi asked. Komaeda-kun’s chin twitched, which might or might not have been a nod. Maybe Naegi should hold up his fingers and make Komaeda-kun count them, or ask him the name of the prime minister, but he couldn’t see much of a point in it.

“I passed out?” Komaeda-kun asked.

“You got hit on the head pretty hard.” No need to go into the exact details yet.

“Mmm.” Komaeda-kun seemed to be undergoing an internal struggle. His brow was furrowed, and he was staring fiercely at Naegi’s shoulder. “Hey…there’s a…it’s a…a thingy…on the…”

“Komaeda-kun, calm down. Maybe you shouldn’t talk for a little bit,” said Naegi. He was trying so hard that it was uncomfortable to watch; whatever he was trying to say must seem important to him, but he was still totally out of it.

“It isn’t…real?” Komaeda-kun asked. His eyes were awfully wide now. “It looks real.”

“What does?”

“Behind you. Standing on the counter. The thingy. The…monkey.” So Komaeda-kun was hallucinating, which was sort of a worrying sign, though Naegi wasn’t sure what of. He didn’t know why he looked over his shoulder; he didn’t really need to in order to reassure Komaeda-kun that there weren’t any monkeys anywhere in the—

Oh. It did look awfully real, though Naegi wasn’t sure if it reminded him of a monkey. It was more like a teddy bear. A teddy bear that could tap its own foot, and that spoke in a high-pitched and deeply unsettling voice.

“Hey! For your information, I’m both real, and handsome, and a _bear!_ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like a few of the tags plus some of the content in this chapter might give readers the wrong impression about where this is heading, so I just have to add: Komaeda's not a yandere in this. He has his usual issues, but a yandere is not what he is. Or at least, that's not what I'm going for.


	3. The Kitchen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for disappearing for so long--I'm going to show that I've mastered the art of pinning blame on others, and blame Monobear. More info in the end notes.

“That’s right! I’m not a monkey, or a tanuki, or a Chihuahua, or a seal! The name’s Monobear, got that? The word bear comes included!” The stuffed toy on the counter continued to tap its rounded feet against the counter impatiently. It took Naegi a few moments to make the connection, and realize that his ringing ears weren’t playing a trick on him: that high-pitched voice was coming from the bear itself.

Naegi deliberately closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again. The bear refused to disappear. He blinked in rapid succession and shook his head from side to side. It was still no use. If this was a hallucination, it was a very, very persistent one.

“You’re gaping like you just saw a salmon shot out of a cannon,” the bear continued. “Don’t you have anything to say?” Naegi. shook his head weakly. What exactly could he say?

“Well, apologizing would be a good start!” the bear fumed. “Banging all those pots and pans together, causing such a racket at this time of night…You woke me up right in the middle of my hibernation!”

“…It’s spring,” muttered Komaeda-kun. Unlike Naegi, he was apparently never at a loss for words, even when sprawled on the floor.

“What what what? What was that, now? Speak up!” the bear snapped.

“I mean…bears hibernate in the winter…right?” Komaeda-kun’s voice grew more certain. “It’s already April. If any bears are still asleep…they should be waking up.”

A living teddy bear (self-styled Monobear) was standing in front of them, demanding an apology, and the only thing that mattered to Komaeda-kun was the timing of bear hibernation. Naegi let out a choked, semi-hysterical noise, and even the bear itself seemed stumped. It lowered its head and went completely still, like a toy that had abruptly lost power. That was probably because it was a toy. Even if its movement was far more smooth and rapid than anything Naegi had ever seen before, it couldn’t be anything more than a high-tech animatronic with a speaker inside.

“Is it broken?” Naegi asked, more to himself than to Komaeda-kun. He edged a little closer to it, trying to get a better look, but Monobear sprang to life once more, waving his arms in cartoonish anger, and Naegi beat a hasty retreat.

“You bet I am! Broken-hearted, that is, by such a pathetic counter-attack! You’re at least six months too early to get the better of me!” The words were nonsense, but Naegi couldn’t help but notice that there were now claws sticking out of Monobear’s blunt, cartoonish paws. Long, sharp, metallic claws that did not belong on any kind of toy. Naegi had backed away as far as he could, which wasn’t nearly far enough. He could try to make a run for it, but with all the debris scattered around the kitchen, Naegi doubted he’d make it far without tripping…and it would mean leaving Komaeda-kun, who was in no state to get away.

“What makes you so sure it’s spring?” Monobear asked. “Do you see any cherry blossoms wafting delicately through the crisp air? Do you hear the skylarks greeting the season of new leaves? Or was it just your own narrow-minded assumption—that just because it was spring yesterday, it must be spring today, too! Typical. You’re disappointingly typical after all, Komaeda Nagito-kun.”

“Disappointingly…? What do you know about me?” Grasping the counter behind him for support, Komaeda-kun finally struggled to his feet. He was already less bleary-eyed and more intent. Up until it had said Komaeda-kun’s name, the bear had seemed like something out of a waking dream (or a nightmare), but those words had come as an abrupt reality check for Naegi too.

“Hmm, well…your file was pretty thick, Komaeda-kun, but I can paraphrase.” Monobear cocked his head, as if deep in thought. “It said that you’re a small-minded little weirdo whose thinking is so black and white, I could sue for copyright infringement! A blowhard who loves the sound of his own voice. It’s no wonder none of your childhood pets lived to a ripe old age—they probably couldn’t wait to get away from you! At least, that’s what your file said. It wasn’t me, it was the file that said all that stuff, so you don’t have to glare at me like that!”

“Uh, Komaeda-kun…” stammered Naegi in alarm. He hadn’t exactly caught all of that, other than the fact it was less than complimentary, but Komaeda-kun’s silence was sort of worrying. His expression was unreadable, and the blood still smeared across his cheeks giving him an almost fierce air. “Don’t listen to it. It’s just… it’s someone trying to mess with our heads. Controlling it, somehow--”

“Now don’t you start putting on airs, Naegi Makoto-kun!” Monobear interrupted. “I wouldn’t stand for it! At least Komaeda-kun has a file! You? You get a four page pamphlet, tops. You’re so dull it’s hard to even describe how dull you are, but I’ll try hard anyway: you’re a cup of half-melted vanilla ice cream without even a single sprinkle. I don’t know how you justify your existence to yourself every morning! Although maybe there is something underneath all those layers of bland... You really have to wonder… I mean, you wet the bed up until you were in 5th grade! Isn’t that a warning sign for kids that are going to turn out to be serial killers?”

“Wh--How the hell would you know that?” Naegi yelped. 

“Wow! You didn’t even try to deny it. Your parents really did name you well: you get a gold star for honesty!” Monobear cackled from behind his paws, and Naegi felt his face start to burn. The shock had been too much for denying it to ever occur to him.

“So you’re well-informed,” said Komaeda-kun, his voice cool. “Why? Who would put together…files about two worthless wastes of space like us?” Naegi…wouldn’t have said it quite like that, but he had to wonder the same thing. He couldn’t remember ever telling anyone about…that, and surely it couldn’t have been a lucky guess. This bear was far beyond well-informed.

“Well, as I was about to explain, before I was so rudely interrupted—it’s my job to know all about you! I’ve been put in charge of the Hope’s Peak Academy Supplementary Education and Extracurricular Research Committee! You see, it turns out you two bastards are in dire need of some supplementary lessons! Luckily, Hope’s Peak is dedicated to providing each and every student with the means that they need to succeed! Some precious seedlings of hope need a little more tending than others—something sickening along those lines. So welcome to your new School Life of Mutual Remediation!”

“This doesn’t really look like a classroom,” said Naegi. Maybe speaking up at all was a mistake, but did this bear…no, did their kidnapper, the one who was actually behind all this, really expect them to swallow that explanation without question?

“Jeez, both of you bastards just love to poke holes in things, don’t you? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We were all young once.” Monobear waved his paws dismissively at the chaotic mess of a kitchen that surrounded them. “Maybe it’s not a traditional classroom. Maybe it’s a little too cutting edge for the likes of you. But I prepared this special learning environment especially for the two of you—it’s totally free of any kind of pesky outside distractions. And I was working on a very tight budget, so I don’t want to hear a word about reused assets!”

“I think what Naegi-kun meant was that…it’s not really clear what exactly we’re supposed to be learning here,” said Komaeda-kun. He was actually smiling now, the sort of small, wincing smile used to soften uncomfortable questions; but his eyes hadn’t changed in the slightest. If looks could kill, that bear would have been very thoroughly skewered.

“Look, I stretched my resources as far as I could, but you’re going to have to make do with what you have! Haven’t you ever heard of self-guided learning? Before you start clamoring about things like textbooks and a curriculum, maybe you should be grateful I didn’t skimp on the construction. You have solid walls and a roof above your head, don’t you?”

“It’s a little difficult to be grateful for the walls. Seeing as those are what are keeping us in here, against our will,” said Komaeda-kun, still smiling. “Look, sorry, my thoughts are a little out of order right now. What I’m saying is…I’d like to drop out of your lessons.”

“No can do,” said Monobear. “This is your education we’re talking about. This is your future. You’ve got to see things through!”

“…That’s kind of a pain. How long will it take to finish the lessons, then? They can’t be all that long, right?” Komaeda-kun smiled even wider, his eyes nothing more than glittering slits. Maybe he was just playing along in order to gather information and keep whoever was behind this happy. It would be a pretty good strategy if he was, but…Naegi was starting to doubt he was actually that coherent.

“Oh no! Not long at all! All lessons have to eventually come to an end. Staying in school forever is a fantasy for a juvenile, diseased mind—you’ll be graduating in no time!”

“Define no time,” said Komaeda-kun, his light tone slipping.

“It all depends on just how motivated you are! If you follow the path of least resistance that your generation favors, and spend your time sitting quietly and meditating on how much you suck, and how you could possibly suck slightly less in the future…I’d say you should be done in around seventy-five years. More or less.”

“Years? Did you just say years?” Naegi blurted. Monobear had rattled it off with complete nonchalance, but—that was just nonsense layered inside of nonsense.

“Yeah. Fifty-two weeks. Three hundred sixty-five days. Seventy-five complete orbits of the earth around the sun. Do the math yourself!”

“But—you can’t…you can’t possibly…” Naegi cut himself off, stifling an irrational surge of panic. He didn’t think he’d be able to stand spending an entire day in this place, and the prospect of being stuck in here for years was horrifying even as an empty threat. 

The police were looking for them. They…they could figure out a way to escape themselves, if it came down to that. It was all the same if their captor told them they’d be here for seventy-five days or seventy-five years or seventy-five million years. This was just further confirmation that they were dealing with a complete lunatic.

“That really is a pain,” repeated Komaeda-kun. “If you don’t mind me saying so.”

“Oh, don’t start sniveling on me!” piped Monobear. “If you would actually let me finish a thought, you would already know that there’s a speedier way to graduate. I mean, I’m going to be brutally honest with you. Not that I’m not always honest, but this is real, raw, inappropriate-for-an-educator honesty. I’m a busy bear, and spending the next seventy-five years supervising you two bastards isn’t the greatest use of my priceless time. So I set up another method. Even I’m shocked by my foresight!”

“Let me guess. Whoever kills the other gets to go free,” muttered Komaeda-kun.

“Woah! Where did that come from?” Monobear staggered back dramatically. Naegi deliberately avoided glancing at Komaeda-kun’s face; he really, really didn’t need to know whether or not he was being serious.

“If you’re feeling overcrowded, that’s your own business!” Monobear continued “But all you have to do if you want out is…unlock all five doors standing between you and freedom! But wait, there’s more: all you have to do to unlock the doors is…solve all five of my super-sadistically brain-bending puzzles! By showcasing your critical thinking skills, you’ll prove that you’re ready to rejoin society at large! Or something!”

“You just want us to solve puzzles?” Naegi asked. “Like…how Komaeda-kun figured out the code from the numbers on the wall?” He might not have leapt to the exact same conclusion as Komaeda-kun, but he found it hard to believe Monobear hadn’t been leading up to something unpleasant. This was just baffling.

“That’s, like, exactly what I just said!” Monobear raised his paws to his face, beaming. “You’ve already got one door down. Is it just me, or should I have put in at least four more doors? I mean, if you keep this up, you’ll be done before breakfast!”

“You can’t expect us to believe it’ll that easy,” said Komaeda-kun.

“Believe what you want; it’s no fur off my back! But I’ll tell you one thing—if you want to graduate while you still have your youth and your health, you’d better start believing! If no one ever believed they were moving forward without actual evidence of progress, how could the world keep spinning?”

Komaeda-kun went quiet again, though his face was openly doubtful. Naegi felt a sort of weariness begin to wash over him. Being held captive like this was bad enough, but having freedom dangled in front of them like this somehow just made things worse. After going to this much trouble, would their kidnapper really just let them walk free without any strings attached? It was, quite simply, too good to be true.

“What do you really want?” Naegi asked quietly. He might as well just ask, even if there was no chance of getting a straight answer.

“Huh? Are you asking for a birthday wishlist? But that spoils the surprise!” Monobear cocked his head to the side. Naegi ignored him.

“What do you have to gain from doing this to us? From locking us up, or making us do puzzles, or…from any of this?” Naegi just didn’t get it. He wasn’t particularly sure he wanted to understand the kind of twisted mind he as dealing with, but…there were so many ways to hurt someone that were so much more straightforward.

“Society has really done a number on you,” Monobear said. “You can’t conceive of a system of values that exists independently from personal gain. This isn’t about what I want, it’s about you. You and your education. Got it?”

“That’s not true! I haven’t—we haven’t done anything to deserve this!” Naegi’s voice came out louder than he’d intended; so loud that the echo made him startle.

“What does it matter?” asked Komaeda-kun quietly. “Don’t waste your breath, Naegi-kun.” When Naegi gave him a look, he saw that Komaeda-kun was sagging back against the counter, his face pale. He was probably nearing his limit. But rather than standing down, Naegi turned furiously back to Monobear.

“What about that trap—the fishing line you strung up?” Naegi asked. “D-don’t try to say that wasn’t you. You want us to get hurt!” Monobear’s dizzying verbal barrages made it easy to forget exactly what had been going on right before he’d appeared, and the reason Komaeda-kun was in such a sorry state to begin with. Their captor was out for blood.

“Oh, puh-leaze.” Monobear sighed. “So maybe I didn’t exactly idiot-proof the place. So I might possibly have set up a booby trap in every room, just to keep things fresh and spicy. I’d suggest actually looking where you’re going! That can work wonders for preventing hilarious bodily injury to the hilariously unlucky!”

Naegi grit his teeth. He’d thought he might get some small amount of satisfaction from getting the bear to admit it, but instead, he just felt sick to his stomach.

“Is that all? Is Q and A time over?” Monobear asked. When neither Naegi nor Komaeda-kun replied, the bear hung his head. “Maybe I should go. There’s nothing lamer than hanging around when you’re no longer the center of the attention.”

“Why don’t you leave already, instead of just talking about it?” Komaeda-kun spat.

“Woah! Have you considered marketing yourself as an alternative to Freon? Because I think my core temperature just plummeted twenty degrees! Naegi-kun, you’re really in for it, aren’t you? Hey, hey, I can take a hint. I’m on my way out!” Monobear sprung nimbly backwards, disappearing behind the central counter. Naegi hesitated only a moment before circling around to take a look; he wanted to keep that bear in his sight. But he still too late; Monobear was nowhere to be found.

“What, is he actually gone?” Komaeda-kun hobbled up behind Naegi, the glass on the floor crunching beneath his shoes.

“Somehow,” Naegi replied. Of course Monobear hadn’t actually vanished into thin air; he must have left the same way he’d snuck in. If their captor could control such a sophisticated toy, it wasn’t much of a stretch to think that there might be a hidden trapdoor or passage somewhere in the room that would let him pop in and out. That…wasn’t exactly reassuring.

“Good riddance. What a noisy distraction.”

Naegi had to agree. In the end, they were no less trapped than they had been, and no closer to figuring out exactly what their captor actually had planned for them. The only thing Naegi could say for sure was that this was even further from a “typical” kidnapping than he’d ever imagined. 

Komaeda-kun was giving Naegi another of those long, searching looks, and Naegi hesitantly met his eyes. He told himself that what looked like distaste twisting Komaeda-kun’s face was probably just pain—and it wasn’t necessarily meant for him, anyway.

“You were yelling something about a trap,” said Komaeda-kun tightly. “So I assume it wasn’t just your clumsiness that had the room crashing around our ears.”

“Um,” said Naegi. Komaeda-kun…really didn’t miss much, did he? “Yeah. I walked right into it. Sorry.” He meant it sincerely. Komaeda-kun might have been distracting him at the time, but that was no excuse, especially since Naegi had somehow (luckily, even) escaped with nothing but a bruised knee. He didn’t exactly wish that he’d been the one to get clobbered over the head with a metal pot, but…if he at least had a few scrapes to match Komaeda-kun’s, he might actually feel a little less guilty about it.

“You should be sorry,” said Komaeda-kun. “I told you I wanted to investigate, and now there’s no putting the place back how it was.”

“Sorry,” Naegi repeated, his shoulders hunching. “I’ll…try to clean up the glass, at least, while you--”

“While I do what?” Komaeda-kun asked, squinting at him suspiciously.

“Um…” Naegi hadn’t expected to be questioned, and was temporarily at a loss. Wasn’t it obvious? “I just thought…after what happened…I assumed you would want to…take a break? And I guess there’s not much around we could use to make a real bandage, but…maybe I can find something.” Naegi made a vague gesture in the direction of his own forehead. For the first time, Komaeda-kun raised his hand and felt at his head in an exploratory manner. Even though it seemed like the bleeding had mostly stopped, his fingertips still came away red.

“So conscientious, Naegi-kun.” Komaeda-kun examined his fingers, then gave his most insincere smile yet. “It’s just a shallow little cut. I’m sure it looks worse than it is.” Naegi had a feeling he was treading on dangerous ground, but went on ahead anyway.

“You look awful,” he said. “So even if it’s not as bad as it looks, it’s still pretty…at any rate, pushing ourselves too hard is no good. Don’t you think you should at least, uh…wash it off?” Despite Naegi’s best efforts, Komaeda-kun was neither calmed nor persuaded. He continued to glare with what was now obvious hostility, and Naegi braced himself for another outburst. He should have known better than to tangle with that kind of stubbornness.

“Oh, I get it,” Komaeda-kun said brightly, and to Naegi’s surprise, the tension visibly left his shoulders. It was if he’d suddenly calmed…or was trying very hard to appear that way. ”You’re one of those people who hates the sight of blood, huh, Naegi-kun?”

“…I don’t…I certainly don’t like it, but that wasn’t what—“

“This place is ugly enough already without creating an eyesore myself—that’s what you really mean, right? You should have said so in the first place, Naegi-kun! Don’t be so shy! I’ll take care of it, if it really bothers you so much.”

“Komaeda-kun!” Naegi protested, but he had already turned his back.

“What? You’re getting what you want. The kitchen is all yours. I’d tell you to be careful, but you can hardly make things much worse at this point, can you?” Komaeda-kun limped through the doorway without any more delay. A moment later the door between the two rooms shut with an echoing metallic bang that left absolutely no doubt about Komaeda-kun’s mood.

That…could have gone better. Naegi hadn’t thought it was such an offensive suggestion—he’d been careful to avoid sounding like he was ordering Komaeda-kun around or implying he was weak. And what was he supposed to do, watch and say nothing while Komaeda-kun struggled onward to the point of collapse? In any case, it was probably for the best to leave him be and enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet while he could…even if it was an uncomfortable quiet that had Naegi jumping at his own shadow.

Naegi took up one of the convenient brooms. If they were going to investigate this kitchen, they would need to be able to move around freely. He could at least brush all the shattered shards of glass towards one corner of the room, even if he didn’t have anywhere to actually dispose of them. He also started to restack some of the fallen pots and pans on the countertops, in slightly more well-balanced heaps. While Naegi worked at clearing the debris, he also gave the room in general a bit of a closer look. Although there was certainly a locked steel door opposite the one they’d entered with, with a metal plate beside it that probably concealed the same sort of numbered dial…there were no clues nearly as obvious as those numbers painted on the walls.

Assuming Naegi bought into Monobear’s nonsense about puzzles (did he have much of a choice?), the first room must have been set up so that it could be figured out quickly, kind of like a tutorial. Naegi doubted Komaeda-kun would be able to solve this next one with the same quick leaps of logic. Where were they even supposed to start?

Naegi wasn’t sure if it was a clue, exactly, but what stood out to him most was a rack of knives that hung over one of the counters. They must have been hidden before the collapse, but now the reflection of the scant light off the blades kept catching Naegi’s eye, again and again, making him crane his neck and twist around to keep them in view. There were six of them in all, lined up in order of size from a slender fruit knife to a hefty carving knife. Not that knives were necessarily out of place in a kitchen, but…they looked brand-new. All of the pots were old, dented, well-used things, and the whole room had a dingy air to it, but there wasn’t a single spot of rust on those blades.

Naegi didn’t like them, but they were the least of what he had to worry about. The knives weren’t going to hurl themselves off the walls at him (probably), but there could be further booby traps lurking just about anywhere. Like, say, those three big refrigerators. Naegi had never brainstormed a trap more sinister than planting a rubber lizard in his sister’s shoe, but if he were an evil mastermind, those fridges would definitely be number one on his list of things to lethalize. 

Maybe they had food in them. Or maybe they were full of death. Naegi’s sad attempts chase away his paranoia by making it into a joke ended in failure, and he decided to save them for last as a compromise. There were lots of cabinets both below and above the counters; he was careful to stand slightly to the side every time he opened one. The majority of them were empty, or full of nothing but the same old junk kitchenware. One had at least a dozen glass and plastic bottles in it; cleaning chemicals, labelled with skulls and crossbones in case he needed another hint that they weren’t for drinking. Another had a nondescript wooden box tucked into the back of it, which turned out to be a first aid kit.

Naegi smiled to himself, a little bitterly. The very same person who had left this here for them was the reason they needed to use it. Still, it was a good find. Maybe Komaeda-kun would be pleased. Or maybe, since telling him to sit down had clearly annoyed him, offering him a first aid kid might send him straight over the edge. There was no way of knowing.

Either way, it was probably time to check on Komaeda-kun. Naegi had expected him to return within minutes—he’d been so insistent on investigating himself, after all. Instead, he’d shut himself up in the other room for…how long had it been, exactly? It was pretty odd, now that Naegi thought about it. With the box tucked under his arm, Naegi went to the door, which lacked a handle on this side, and gave it a shove. It didn’t open; he must not have used enough force. Naegi shifted to the side and used his shoulder. It still didn’t move, and Naegi, at the end of his patience, gave it solid kick. That earned him nothing but a sore toe, and it finally sunk in that it wasn’t going to budge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this isn't going to be another three month cliffhanger. The next chapter should be up in a matter of days: I decided to split the original Chapter 3 into two separate chapters after struggling with how to deal with it for so long, so it's almost entirely written and just needs to be edited up. Unfortunately, I think it leaves this version of Chapter 3 a little sparse and lackluster, but it had to be posted at some point. Thank you for your patience!
> 
> (I still blame Monobear. The only character that might be harder to write is probably Junko herself.)


	4. The Kitchen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I said the next chapter was coming in a few days...of course I meant a few weeks... orz Some stuff came up.
> 
> Sorry for the wait. Sorry for the ridiculously slow pacing. Thank you for your kudos and comments!

What an idiot he’d been. Naegi had let himself get caught up in paranoia about traps, but he hadn’t even thought to test the door before now. What was he supposed to do? What if he really was stuck? Naegi couldn’t help starting to panic a little, just like he had while Komaeda-kun was unconscious. He _needed_ someone else there, now more than ever—these circumstances were too bizarre.

He was getting ahead of himself. Way ahead of himself. The first thing to do was see if he could communicate. Naegi had no clue if any sound would be able to penetrate the thick steel door, but he had to try. He gave the door several hard whacks with his fist.

“Komaeda-kun! Hey! Can you hear me? Komaeda-kun!” Naegi pressed his ear to the door. He couldn’t hear an answering voice, but he thought he felt a slight vibration pass through it, followed by a clattering noise. Naegi stepped back, and a second later, the door swung open.

“I could hear you just fine,” said Komaeda-kun from the doorway. His face was no longer bloody, but his mood didn’t seem to have improved. He gave Naegi a cool look. “You don’t have to make that much of a racket.”

“How did you—it was locked.” Naegi ended up answering his own question. “Why was it locked? Komaeda-kun, surely you didn’t…”

“I didn’t shut you out on purpose, if that’s what you’re asking,” said Komaeda-kun flatly. Naegi looked away; he couldn’t deny that was the first conclusion he’d leapt to, after his initial relief. Otherwise, how could Komaeda-kun be so nonchalant?

“Why was it locked?” Naegi repeated, with more urgency. Komaeda-kun beckoned him through the doorway, then pointed to the panel beside it, which had the numbered dial, a button, and a little green light on it.

“Close it and watch,” said Komaeda-kun, and Naegi did so, though with some reluctance. As soon as the door was entirely closed, the green light flashed to red. Naegi gave the door handle a tug; it didn’t move. But then Komaeda-kun pressed the button, the light turned green again, and he could open it as easily as he could before.

“I see,” said Naegi, although he still didn’t fully understand _why_ it worked that way. What was the purpose of it? “The lock is automatic. We need to make sure the door stays open, then.”

“Why?” asked Komaeda-kun. Naegi stared at him, and he stared back.

“Because…there’s no button on the other side,” said Naegi, “I mean…if you hadn’t been there to let me in...if something had happened to either one of us…”

“You would have really been in a bind.” Komaeda-kun didn’t exactly seem displeased by this idea. “But I was there. I did let you in. I don’t see why you should have any complaints.”

“I’m not complaining,” said Naegi in exasperation. “I’m saying it’s not safe.”

“Really? My throbbing head says I’m probably _safer_ with a few inches of steel between us,” said Komaeda-kun. Naegi flinched. He didn’t know why he even bothered. Komaeda-kun was clearly being contrary for the sake of being contrary…but he’d slipped up.

“So it does hurt after all, huh?” Naegi asked. Komaeda-kun folded his arms with a huff, and didn’t reply, probably because he had no reply. Now that the blood was gone, Naegi could see that one side of his face was criss-crossed with small cuts, and he had a fairly substantial one on his temple. He was lucky that one hadn’t caught him across the eye.

“I don’t know how much help it’ll be, but I found this,” said Naegi, offering him the first aid kit. “There’s some bandages and rubbing alcohol and stuff in there.” He braced himself for more biting remarks, but Komaeda-kun seemed more taken aback than angry. At first he just stared, uncomprehending. Then he unfolded his arms and jerked the box from Naegi’s hands without a word. But as he opened it, he seemed almost hesitant, like he suspected Naegi had actually handed him a box full of scorpions.

“Well,” he said, peering at the box. “Some of this might be useful.” That was probably as close to thanks as Naegi was going to get.

A few moments later, Komaeda-kun pulled out a small pill bottle, which rattled as he turned it in his hand.

“Now what do we have here?” he mused.

“I don’t know,” said Naegi uncomfortably. “We’d better leave it alone.” He’d noticed that there were a few bottles of pills in the kit, but the labels were all in English and hard to parse.

“That would be smart. I’m not sure these are even legal.”

“Wha—they’re _that_ kind of drug?” Naegi stared at the little white bottle with new eyes. Komaeda-kun shrugged and replaced the bottle.

“They’re sleeping pills. The potent kind. At least, that’s what’s written on the label.”

“What’s the use of that?” Sleeping pills weren’t exactly standard-issue for first aid kits, as far as Naegi knew.

“Can you really not think of anything?” Komaeda-kun clicked his tongue. “You don’t have much of an imagination, do you, Naegi-kun?”

“I’m okay with that,” said Naegi, and pointedly looked away. At least Komaeda-kun dropped the subject and went back to rooting through the box. He removed and examined each bottle of pills closely. Maybe he was looking for painkillers? Eventually he gave up, judging by his wordless noise of disgust, and headed for the shower room with the kit in tow. Expecting him to be in there for a while, Naegi sat down on the bed, but it wasn’t long at all before Komaeda-kun returned with the cuts hidden behind taped-down gauze.

“All done,” he announced. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“That was pretty quick,” said Naegi. But the bandages were neatly applied and didn’t look like they were in any danger of falling off.

“Am I presentable? Are you completely satisfied now?” Komaeda-kun spread his arms wide and flashed a sarcastic smile.

“…Sure.” Naegi averted his eyes. Restarting that argument would be futile.

“So what else did you find?” Komaeda-kun asked. He rested his arms on the headboard and leaned in close. “Any progress on the puzzle?”

“Nothing yet,” Naegi admitted. “I mean, there’s another door, but…I haven’t found anything that even looks like a clue about how to get it open.” He hesitated for a moment. “Is that the plan, then? We go along with what Monobear told us to do?”

“If you have a better idea, I’d love to hear it,” said Komaeda-kun.

“I don’t trust him,” said Naegi.

“I’d be worried if you did.”

“He’s not actually going to let us out,” Naegi continued.

“Probably not, no.”

“So—looking for clues might be a total waste of time. Maybe instead we should be, I don’t know…trying to make as much noise as we can, or figuring out some other way to escape…”

Even as he spoke, he knew he sounded a little ridiculous. But wasn’t following the orders of a stuffed toy even more ridiculous?

“Naegi-kun. Let’s face reality.” Naegi was startled by Komaeda-kun’s tone, and even more so by his face, when he stole a glance at it. He actually seemed somewhat serious, without either a grin or a look of contempt.

“Whoever makes the game makes the rules,” Komaeda-kun continued. “Do you think the kind of egotist who put all this together would let us get away with ignoring him? I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly eager to see how nasty he’ll get if he’s frustrated.”

“He’s already nasty enough,” said Naegi, and shuddered. “That’s why I think there has to be a catch.”

“Sure,” said Komaeda-kun easily. “But for the time being, he’s not asking us to do anything all that unpleasant—we would want to investigate regardless.”

“You’re right,” said Naegi, resigned. “It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I guess.” Komaeda-kun _was_ right, no matter how Naegi looked at it, which was a bit of a shock in itself. After seeing the sheer hatred twisting Komaeda-kun’s face as he stared at that bear, it was strange to hear him argue so persuasively that they needed to cooperate.

“I do get how you feel, though,” Komaeda-kun said. “It’s so pointless that it’s almost insulting. I mean, puzzles? The whole premise lacks a certain something. There’s not much hope to be found.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Naegi might not have used those exact words, he had been thinking something awfully similar himself.

“Though I guess if there’s a problem with the game, it starts with the players,” Komaeda-kun continued, and he shook his head ruefully. He seemed to have warmed to this topic considerably. “It hardly matters what happens to two people as insignificant as us. Anything more exciting would be a waste.”

“What?” Just when Naegi thought they were coming to something of an understanding, Komaeda-kun’s logic went sailing off far beyond his comprehension. “Of course it matters.”

“Oh, have you come up with a new story already? Have you been hiding a secret talent from me? Are you actually someone of great significance?”

“Well, no, but still—“

“Then you don’t matter,” Komaeda-kun cut him off. The harshness had returned to his demeanor in full force. “It’s not as if it’s any different for me. Whether the two of us get out of here or not, whether we live or we die, nothing really changes. Everyone else in the world will continue on exactly as they were. A game with no stakes is the definition of pointless.”

“You know what, never mind.” Naegi got to his feet. “I’m going back to the kitchen.”

“Hmm? Well, that’s the spirit,” said Komaeda-kun. “Sitting around and chatting certainly won’t fix the problem.” And to Naegi’s disappointment, though not his surprise, Komaeda-kun trailed after him, surveying the now somewhat less chaotic kitchen.

“So what else did you find?” Komaeda-kun asked. “Was there no food at all? That’s going to be an issue sooner rather than later.”

“I haven’t looked absolutely everywhere yet,” Naegi admitted. “Maybe there’s something in those fridges.” There were three of them, after all, and surely their kidnapper wouldn’t spend so much time setting all this up, only to let them starve. Still, Naegi tried not to get his hopes up too high.

“Why didn’t you check them first thing?”

“They’re…a little too obvious, don’t you think? They might be rigged.”

“I see. So you were saving them for me.” Komaeda-kun’s tone wasn’t even all that accusatory, but Naegi blurted out a protest without thinking.

“No! Of course not! I only…I thought it would be best…in case something happens…to have someone watching. I’ll open them.”

“Well, if it means that much to you,” said Komaeda-kun, and he leaned against the wall beside the door.

“Sure. Yeah. I was going to.” Naegi had walked right into that one, and had no one to blame but himself. He strode up to one of the fridges, closed his eyes, and wrenched open the door.

Nothing hit him, aside from a blast of cold air. Naegi opened his eyes. Inside the fridge was…nothing, period. It was empty.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Naegi muttered. He was going to feel like a complete idiot if all three of them were empty.

“No luck for you, huh,” said Komaeda-kun. “Hey, let me have the middle one. I have a good feeling about it.” Komaeda-kun opened the door, and even if he kept his eyes open and didn’t flinch, Naegi could have sworn that his shoulders tensed up a little. Then they slumped, and Komaeda-kun clicked his tongue.

“Honestly,” he said. “I guess I should know better than to trust my feelings at this point.” Naegi peered around him, expecting this one to be empty, too. It wasn’t. All three shelves were tightly packed with bright red cans of off-brand soda. Naegi wanted to say it was better than nothing, but he wasn’t so sure about that. Could you actually live off of soda?

Komaeda-kun took out one of the cans, turning it over in his hands in the exact same way he had the pill bottles…was that a compulsion, or something? Then he opened it and took a sip, immediately grimacing.

“It’s awful,” Komaeda-kun announced. “Completely flat, too. Here, Naegi-kun, try it. It’s cherry flavor.” He waved the can at Naegi.

“I’ll pass.”

“Suit yourself.” Komaeda-kun set it aside. “Time for number three. Let’s bring this thrill ride to an end.”

“Let’s,” said Naegi. He opened the door to the third fridge, resigned to disappointment, and startled as he felt something hit his foot. He looked down. A small bone had fallen out and hit his foot. Naegi looked back up at the fridge. It was full of—there was a jumble of—a knobbly bunch of—

“ _Aagh!_ ” Naegi couldn’t scramble backwards fast enough. It was absolutely packed with bones of all sorts, tangled up in an indistinguishable pile. He could actually _smell_ them, even two meters away, a faint meaty odor—Naegi pressed his hand against his mouth and desperately tried not to throw up.

“Wh--Naegi-kun, pull it together. Hey. Are you injured?” Komaeda-kun crowded close to Naegi, who shook his head and gestured weakly at the fridge.

“Oh. Lovely.” Komaeda-kun walked up to the fridge, stared into it for a few moments, then stooped, picking up the single bone that had fallen. “I guess there aren’t completely useless,” he said coolly, sticking it back in the fridge. “We can break them open and eat the marrow if we’re in a pinch.”

Naegi shook his head and made a strangled noise. He closed his eyes. If he didn’t look at them…at the bones, or at Komaeda-kun…

“I know it’s not exactly appetizing, but this isn’t really the time to be picky.”

“We _can’t_ ,” Naegi choked out. “That’s…it’s a person, Komaeda-kun.” He got a short laugh in response.

“Do you know many people with hooves?”

“…Hooves?” Naegi opened his eyes, astonished.

“These aren’t human bones. They’re probably from a cow.”

“A cow,” Naegi repeated. Well, it was true he hadn’t seen anything like…a skull mixed in. He crept closer to the fridge. Now that he looked closely…there really was a hoof. And a lot of the bones were probably too big to be human, anyway. There was no way to actually be sure what all of them were, but… “A cow, yeah. Of course. Nothing but a cow. I just…assumed…”

“You screamed like you were in mortal peril,” said Komaeda-kun, and he sighed. “You know, no matter what those bones came from, it’s very much dead. They aren’t going to hurt you.”

“I was really startled, that’s all,” said Naegi, his face burning. “Sorry.”

It was all the fault of this horrible place. His nerves were already frayed, and it wasn’t such a stretch to think that their captor might be a murderer already. Those bones had been left like that to provoke exactly that sort of reaction.

Naegi shut the door of the final fridge with unnecessary force. He wasn’t sure what to do next, but decided to take a short break before he posed the question; his mind might have accepted that there was nothing to be afraid of, but his rapidly pounding heart still needed some convincing.

Komaeda-kun was quiet, too. Naegi snuck a glance at him and saw that he was scanning the room again with his hands in his pockets. Naegi didn’t know if he was looking away on purpose, but appreciated not being stared at for once. He’d expected to be mercilessly mocked, but Komaeda-kun had at least a little decency, apparently.

In fact, as humiliating as it had turned out…Naegi was still glad he’d waited to open the fridges. Having Komaeda-kun around was probably the only thing that had kept Naegi from falling into a total panic. Komaeda-kun wasn’t afraid of much of anything. Was he even capable of feeling fear like a normal person? Well, Naegi was going to be generous and call it bravery; whatever it was, he wished he had just a little bit more of it, if only so he didn’t end up providing the sadist who’d set all this up with any more entertainment.

Naegi turned to Komaeda-kun, ready to break the silence, but his question caught in his throat. Komaeda-kun was no longer looking all around the room. He hadn’t moved, but he was staring at the rack of kitchen knives mounted on the opposite wall with a speculative expression.

“Uh,” croaked Naegi, and the noise caught Komaeda-kun’s attention.

“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” Komaeda-kun asked him conversationally, motioning towards the rack with his head. What was horrible? The knives? What about them? It was true that Naegi didn’t like them much, but _horrible_ wasn’t quite the word he would use…

“I’m not sure what you mean, but—“

“The arrogance,” said Komaeda-kun. “It makes my skin crawl.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Naegi asked. He didn’t get Komaeda-kun’s meaning, and while that was nothing new, he really didn’t like the way Komaeda-kun kept glancing back at the knives as he talked. Or the way Komaeda-kun’s hands were shaking, a tell-tale sign that he was getting worked up about something. Combined, those two things were downright alarming.

“You really don’t get it, Naegi-kun?” Komaeda-kun asked. He still sounded calm, but of course that didn’t mean anything. “They’re a message for us.”

“A clue, you mean?”

“No, a message. It’s the mastermind behind all this, saying loud and clear: ‘I’m going to leave all sorts of things for you to play with, because you’ll never be able to hurt _me_.’”

“Well, it’s true,” said Naegi. “A knife isn’t going to do you much good against something like Monobear.” Naegi had no doubt there was an actual human being behind all this, but if he had a robot toy to do his dirty work, there would be no need to put himself in actual harm’s way.

“Who even knows?” Komaeda-kun mused. “If you sliced him open, would stuffing come out? Or is he mostly metal on the inside? Now I’m kind of curious.” And with that, he started to walk across the room, his destination obvious. Naegi let real urgency enter his voice.

“Wait!” Komaeda-kun paused, looking at him over his shoulder inquiringly. “It’s like you were saying—we have to cooperate. You could be killed!”

“Naegi-kun, relax. I was just kidding,” he said, laughing lightly. “I’m not about to go off bear hunting.”

“Then what are you doing?” Naegi asked. “You’re just going to have a look at them, right? You’re not going to take one…right?”

“Of course I am,” said Komaeda-kun. “Aren’t you? If he’s arrogant enough to hand us halfway decent weapons, don’t you think we should take advantage of it?”

“I—I think we should leave them where they are,” said Naegi tightly. His stomach was twisting painfully, and his unease was starting to feel a lot more like dread. “It’s just the two of us in here. There’s no reason to carry something like that around.”

“Well, let’s just say I like to be prepared for anything,” said Komaeda-kun pointedly. What exactly was that supposed to mean? Did he _still_ think Naegi was some sort of threat? Komaeda-kun turned away again, and this time he didn’t stop when Naegi tried to call him back.

“Wait! Komaeda-kun, you can’t seriously--Wait a second!” Naegi scrambled to make up the distance between them. If he only had just a little more time, he could come up with a decent argument, put his intuitions into words, but once Komaeda-kun actually had a knife in his hand, it would be hard to convince him to give it up.

Naegi needed to make himself impossible to ignore—even if that meant darting right in front of Komaeda-kun’s path with his arms spread, so that he _had_ to stop. It worked. Komaeda-kun rocked back on his heels and blinked at him with utter astonishment. Then he smiled.

“Naegi-kun,” he said lightly. “You’re really, really starting to wear down my patience. Move, would you?”

“I’m sorry,” said Naegi. “I…I can’t let you do this. Not until we’ve given it more thought.”

“You’re not going to let me?” Komaeda-kun asked. He tilted his head to the side, still smiling, and then leaned forward so that he was right at Naegi’s eye level. “How exactly are you planning on stopping me?”

“I…uh…I wasn't...” Naegi swallowed and tried to take a step back, but the edge of a countertop dug into his back. The knife rack was mounted on the wall above the counter, right above his head. All he’d wanted was to get Komaeda-kun’s attention. He hadn’t thought about what would happen after Komaeda-kun called his bluff.

“Get out of my way.” Komaeda-kun straightened. He was no longer smiling. It was at this point that Naegi’s self-preservative instinct belatedly kicked in, screaming at him that no ominous premonition was worth standing between Komaeda-kun and something he wanted. Moving aside would be the smart thing to do.

“No,” breathed Naegi.

“What was that, now?” asked Komaeda-kun softly.

“No,” Naegi repeated. “I’m not going to move.” He forced himself to meet Komaeda-kun’s eyes, but his knees were quaking.

“I see,” said Komaeda-kun, and paused. “You do realize it’s going to take a little more than that, don’t you?” He lifted an arm, and Naegi tensed, but Komaeda-kun moved with deliberate slowness, reaching forward to rest his hand lightly on Naegi’s shoulder. A shiver ran down Naegi’s spine, but he was paralyzed, unable to move aside or knock Komaeda-kun’s hand away.

“Komaeda-kun, please,” said Naegi. Even though Komaeda-kun’s eyes were cold, the odd gentleness of his hand made Naegi wonder if maybe he was hesitating, after all. “Enough of this. I know I can’t…really stop you, so…please. Leave the knives alone. I have an awful feeling about them.”

“That’s it? How disappointing,” said Komaeda-kun. His fingers on Naegi’s shoulder tightened abruptly, and he gave Naegi a shove. Taken unaware, Naegi stumbled to the side, and Komaeda-kun took full advantage of the opening to go for the knife rack.

Komaeda-kun probably expected Naegi to give up. Naegi had just about given up, himself. So it was almost like an accident. Just as he’d never really meant to block Komaeda-kun’s way, Naegi never really meant to grab his arm. It just happened. But when his fingers closed around Komaeda-kun’s skinny wrist, Naegi did the only thing he could do—he wrenched it back downwards as hard as he could.

“Listen to me! _Just listen to me_!” Naegi shouted. His other hand found that same wrist, and he punctuated each word with a squeeze. “You’re giving him what he wants! Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you see what he’s trying to do to us?”

Komaeda-kun was trying to pull his wrist out of Naegi’s grip, but Naegi held on doggedly. Of course, Komaeda-kun’s other hand was still free, and Naegi was bracing himself for a punch in the face at any moment. When it never came, he kept talking.

“The kidnapper, or the mastermind, or whoever it is that’s behind this…he wants us to be afraid. But not just of him. Don’t you think so? Everything he’s done is meant to give us more reasons to suspect each other, more reasons to blame each other, more reasons to be afraid of what the other might do! He doesn’t have to do anything to hurt us if he can trick us into hurting each other! That’s his real motive! I’m sure of it!”

Komaeda-kun said nothing. He was still struggling, holding himself as far from Naegi as he could, but his pulls were growing weaker and more sporadic.

“I’m not your enemy, Komaeda-kun,” Naegi continued, lowering his voice. “Paranoia is our enemy. If you start carrying around a weapon, you’ll never be able to stop thinking about using it, and I’ll never be able to stop thinking about you using it…something horrible will happen. It’s inevitable.” Still, he received no reply.

“I mean…even if you say it doesn’t matter what happens to us…you don’t want to give the mastermind the satisfaction he’d get from watching you fall into his trap, do you? You want to resist him. I think the best way to resist is to…to trust each other, at least a little.” Maybe Naegi was way off. It was impossible for him to really know what was going on inside Komaeda-kun’s head. But it seemed clear at least that Komaeda-kun hated the one who’d done this to them. And it was a much more dangerous guess on Naegi’s part, but…despite all his posturing, or maybe because of all the posturing, he didn’t think Komaeda-kun really wanted to hurt anyone.

At any rate, Naegi had run out of things to say. He stood there, trembling from head to foot, and waited for Komaeda-kun to say something, _anything_ , in reply.

“Let me go,” said Komaeda-kun, in a soft, choked voice. Naegi had forgotten he was still holding on. The instant he released his grip, Komaeda-kun recoiled violently.

Naegi had been so focused on what he was saying that he hadn’t been paying a bit of attention to Komaeda-kun’s physical reaction. He…didn’t seem all that happy. His face was lowered, his shoulders were trembling violently, and he was rubbing his wrist. Just how tightly had Naegi been holding on?

“Hey,” said Naegi uncertainly. Komaeda-kun had been absolutely brimming with confidence and contempt only moments ago, but now…surely he wasn’t…was he _crying_? “Uh, I didn’t…I really didn’t mean to…I got kind of carried away. Komaeda-kun? Are you okay?”

“Eheh.” The sound Komaeda-kun made didn’t sound much like a sob. It was really more of a giggle.

“Is something funny?” Naegi asked in disbelief.

“Not…really…” said Komaeda-kun, letting out a sort of hiccup. “I just…Naegi-kun…”

“What?”

“I didn’t think you had it in you! I really didn’t!” Unable to control himself any longer, Komaeda-kun burst into peals of laughter. There wasn't a trace of humor or warmth in it. It was just an awful, high-pitched _noise_ that made Naegi want to clamp his hands around his ears. By the time it ended, Komaeda-kun was clutching at his sides and gasping for breath.

“I can’t believe I’ve sunk so low! Ahaha…Being lectured by you…But you aren’t wrong! I’m a coward! Only a coward walks around armed, trembling in fear of his miserable life. Just more proof of how unworthy I was to ever step foot inside Hope’s Peak Academy!”

Naegi kept his distance and averted his eyes, regretting even the brief glance he’d taken of Komaeda-kun’s face. He was grinning like someone possessed.

“What can I say?” Komaeda-kun continued. “I’m convinced! Naegi-kun, I’m still not sure exactly what you are, but you have a real way with words!” He broke off into a slightly more subdued fit of laughter, mostly muffled behind his hand.

“So you…agree? You’re going to leave them alone?” Naegi asked hesitantly. He could barely believe it.

“You have my word. Yes, I see it now—what a way to spit in his face!” If only Naegi could be sure that he wasn’t going to change his mind again a few seconds later. As long as those knives were out in the open, he would never be able to relax. But where else could they go?

“If you’re committed,” said Naegi. “Then…we can put the knives in the desk drawer and lock it. That way if we really need them for something they’ll be in there, but neither of us will be able to grab one on a whim.”

“That’s a good idea,” Komaeda-kun said. “Very practical of you. You’re really on a roll, Naegi-kun.” Was he being sarcastic? Apparently not. Before Naegi’s eyes, he plucked three of the knives off the rack, then trotted off towards the other room.

Naegi winced a little in discomfort; the sleeve of Komaeda-kun’s jacket had fallen as he reached for the knives, revealing the angry red finger marks on his wrist . It disturbed him to think that he’d managed to do something like that without even meaning to…but he also had to wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t managed to grab hold of Komaeda-kun. Would words alone have had such a strong effect?

Naegi collected the remaining three knives and joined Komaeda-kun in front of the desk. Komaeda-kun had put the hammer from the toolkit back inside the drawer as well, which Naegi hadn’t even thought of. The moment after turning the key in the lock, Naegi slumped with equal parts relief and exhaustion.

“Just one problem,” said Komaeda-kun. He took the key from the lock and held it up. “Who gets to keep the key?”

“Uh…if it’s all right, I think I will,” said Naegi. “At least for now.” Komaeda-kun frowned, dropping the key into his palm and closing his fist around it. For a second, it looked as if he was going to keep it, but then he shrugged and deposited it on the desk.

“It’s almost as if you don’t trust me,” he said. “Naegi-kun, please don’t tell me that wonderful speech of yours didn’t come from the heart. Trust is supposed to be a two-way street.” Somehow, Naegi sensed Komaeda-kun wasn’t joking around. That brief bout of hysteria was rapidly wearing off, and he was returning to his usual disagreeableness. Naegi had to tread carefully.

“As long as we can keep watch on each other, does it really matter who has it?” Naegi asked. In truth, Naegi might be a bit of a hypocrite, but he didn’t think he was being that unfair. Komaeda-kun hadn’t proved himself to be anything other than extremely unpredictable.

“Well, no” said Komaeda-kun. “But we’re both going to have to sleep sometime. Sometime pretty soon, in fact. And if either of us had any, let’s say, hidden motives…that would be the perfect time to act.”

“It’s not perfect, no,” said Naegi. “But I can’t think of anything more we can do. It’s better than leaving them in plain sight.”

“You know, I have an idea of my own,” said Komaeda-kun. He nodded, looking satisfied. “There’s two rooms, two of us, and a door that locks. If the one holding the key stays locked the kitchen, it’s totally foolproof. Neither of us will be able to get at the weapons.”

“I…guess, but…it’s no good for us to be separated like that, either. And the lock only works one way.” Naegi furrowed his brow.

“It’s not perfect, no, but don’t they say that the best way to encourage trust is to remove temptation? Well, I don’t know if they say that, but I’m saying it now. Let’s sleep in separate rooms.”

“If you really think we should.” Naegi had a whole list of objections, but he’d just gotten a big concession from Komaeda-kun in giving up on the knives. Pushing his luck would probably be a mistake. What a bizarre thing to be so insistent about, though…not that Naegi was exactly thrilled at the idea of Komaeda-kun watching him while he slept.

“I do think it’s best,” Komaeda-kun said. “Now. We can trade off, of course, but who gets the first turn with the bed?”

“You can have it,” said Naegi. Despite his bone-deep tiredness, between the awful atmosphere of the place, his empty stomach, and all his anxieties, he couldn’t imagine actually falling asleep in either room. And Komaeda-kun was the one with injuries, even if he didn’t seem particularly bothered by them.

“No, no, no,” Komaeda-kun said, shaking his head. “We should settle this fairly.”

He extended both arms, holding an open palm beneath his closed fist. It took Naegi a moment to realize he was making the gesture for rock-paper-scissors.

“I said you can have it,” repeated Naegi. He was near the limits of his patience, but Komaeda-kun didn’t so much as twitch. He continued to stare at Naegi, expectant, until Naegi finally thrust out his arm for the most begrudging game of rock-paper-scissors he’d ever played in his entire life.

Naegi threw scissors. Komaeda-kun threw rock.

“There,” said Naegi. “You win. It’s yours.”

“We can go with two out of three if you want,” said Komaeda, sounding inordinately pleased with himself. “Maybe that was a fluke.”

“Just leave me alone,” Naegi muttered. Every word out of Komaeda-kun’s mouth sapped even more energy out of him. He took the key off the desk and slipped it in his pocket.

“Oh, are you going to sleep already? You do look worn out.”

“If I say that I am, will you stop bothering me?”

“Use the bathroom first,” said Komaeda-kun. “Remember, you’ll be locked in. If you wake me up over something like that, I won’t be happy. And of course—hey, Naegi-kun, come back. Naegi-kun! Alright, fine, have it your way. There are plenty of buckets in there, after all.”

Naegi went into the kitchen, and few seconds later, Komaeda-kun closed the door behind him. As soon as he was alone, Naegi found the cleanest looking spot of floor that he could and sat down awkwardly, his back pressed against the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest. He closed his eyes and listened to the hum of the refrigerators, and the occasional drip of water. He wondered how long it had actually been since they were brought to this place? Was it night or day outside? It was probably best not to even think about it too hard.

The door gave a screech, and Naegi opened his eyes, gritting his teeth. Although he’d been sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep, he’d actually come close to dozing off for a few seconds.

“What do you want?” Naegi asked. The door was open just a crack, and Komaeda-kun was peering through.

“Are you really trying to sleep like that?” Komaeda-kun asked.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Naegi snapped. “It was your idea.” If Komaeda-kun tried to tell him that the whole thing had been a joke, he wasn’t sure he could handle it.

“I thought you’d be pounding on the door and complaining once you realized how hard the floor actually is. Are you used to roughing it? You didn’t seem like the type, but you’re always full of surprises.”

“Komaeda-kun, what do you _want_?” Naegi asked. Komaeda-kun vanished from the crack in the door, then reappeared a few seconds later, opening it a little wider.

“Here,” he said, and tossed something through the door. It hit the floor next to Naegi with a soft poof; it was the pillow from the bed. “I was planning on giving these to you in the first place, but you went storming off before I could.” Another poof, and the sheets from the bed, folded and tied into a neat bundle, landed next to the pillow.

“Um,” said Naegi, too surprised to be any more articulate. “Uh…thank you.”

“It’s not for your sake,” said Komaeda-kun. “I don’t want to sleep on the bare floor when it’s my turn, either.” He closed the door, and Naegi waited for a bit, half-expecting him to return yet again. Apparently that was all he’d wanted to do, though.

Sighing, Naegi picked up the bundle of sheets and started to unwrap them.


End file.
